Yuvraj Manchanda murder: Delhi Police gets custody of accused Anya Vats

Delhi Police arrested Anya Vats and Sanyam Sachdeva for murdering sales manager Yuvraj Manchanda. The accused confessed to the crime and led police to Gurugram, where they disposed of the body, which had already been found and cremated by local police.

The Delhi Police has secured five-day custody of two accused, Anya Vats and her associate Sanyam Sachdeva, for further questioning in connection with the murder of Yuvraj Manchanda, said South-East Delhi Deputy Commissioner of Police Vineet Kumar on Friday.

Speaking to reporters, DCP Kumar said that during interrogation, the accused admitted to meeting Yuvraj and confessed to his murder and later disposed of his body in Gurugram's Badshahpur area. He added that the Gurugram Police had already conducted a post-mortem and cremated the remains as per their standard operating procedure. He further stated that the probe into other aspects of the case is ongoing.

The Investigation and Arrest

"On September 11, around 4.15 PM, a missing person report was filed for an individual named Yuvraj Manchanda. We discovered that the missing person, Yuvraj, worked as a sales manager at Adani Realty. On September 6, after having dinner at a restaurant in the Lajpat Nagar area, he left, stating he was heading to a meeting, but never returned home. Through technical analysis and other findings, we zeroed in on a former associate of his, Anya Vats, who used to work with him as a medical representative. Her mobile phone had also been untraceable since September 8. We traced her and her associate, Sanyam Sachdeva, to Uttarakhand. Upon interrogation, they admitted to meeting Yuvraj and confessed to murdering him; they subsequently disposed of his body in the Badshahpur area (Sector 70) of Gurugram. When we investigated the location they indicated, we learned that the Gurugram Police had recovered a body on September 10 and, following their SOP, had conducted a post-mortem and cremated the remains. Later, when we showed photographs of the body and the recovered belongings to his family members, they identified the deceased as Yuvraj. We have made two arrests in this case so far—Anya Vats and her associate, Sanyam Sachdeva. The investigation into other aspects of the case is ongoing, and we have secured five days of police custody for further questioning..." said DCP Kumar.

Earlier, on September 6, 31-year-old Yuvraj Singh Manchanda went missing from Lajpat Nagar around 4 pm, after he told his family that he had a meeting in Gurugram and would return home by around 10 pm. However, he did not return, and his mobile phone was switched off. Later, Yuvraj's sister lodged a complaint regarding his disappearance at Lajpat Nagar police station at around 4:15 pm on September 11. Following the investigation, Anya emerged as a prime suspect. Police mounted surveillance and detected a new mobile number allegedly being used by her. Further analysis of call records, location details, and other technical evidence indicated her presence in Uttarakhand. A police team was subsequently sent to Uttarakhand, where Anya Vats and Sanyam Sachdeva were traced and apprehended. During interrogation, police said both accused disclosed their involvement in Yuvraj's murder and the disposal of his body in a drain or nala near their house in Gurugram.

Family Alleges Police Lapses

Speaking on the incident, advocate Rajat Jain, a friend of the deceased, questioned the timeline gap in the recovery and handling of the body. Highlighting discrepancies in police official records, he noted that while ZIPNET entries show the body was recovered on September 10 and disposed of on September 14, police uploaded the details to the portal only two days after the cremation had taken place. "That is when, on September 16, we learned they had already found it; they had actually cremated the body on September 14... We asked why they hadn't uploaded the details to Zonal Integrated Police Network (ZIPNET); had they done so, we would have found the body, as we were checking the portal regularly... The details uploaded for Yuvraj show the dates: body found on September 10, disposed of on September 14, and uploaded to ZIPNET on September 16, two days after the body had already been disposed of... We weren't shown the post-mortem report, nor were we informed of the results..." Jain told reporters.

Sharing similar concerns, the victim's sister alleged that the police failed to return Yuvraj Manchanda's personal belongings to the family and kept his body in the mortuary for three days. " We travelled there and waited. We arrived around 8 PM, but ultimately, they gave us nothing. They simply told us they had found the body, but it was decomposed. They had recovered it on September 10; it was decomposed, so they kept it in the mortuary for three days and cremated it on September 14, scattering the ashes. We asked for his clothes; they said they had given two pieces of clothing away because they were reeking. We asked for his watch and his kada (wristband), but they said those were at the hospital. We found out from the hospital staff that when the police team had visited the previous day, they were told the IO had already taken the items my brother was wearing. There was a ring, a gold one with a yellow sapphire (Pukhraj) setting. They claim it wasn't there, but that isn't the point; my concern is simply that something should be returned to us... They haven't given us the post-mortem report or anything else...." Yuvraj's sister told reporters. (ANI)

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