When 26-year-old Nikki Bhati collapsed in flames outside her Noida home on August 21, it was the culmination of years of abuse and dowry harassment. Married at 18 to Vipin Bhati, Nikki had lived through years of financial and physical torture—violence that now stands exposed with her brutal killing.
This was not Vipin’s first brush with violence. In 2024, he was accused of assault by another woman with whom he was allegedly in a relationship while married to Nikki. The confrontation turned uglier when Nikki and her sister caught them together. In an attempt to prove himself “innocent,” Vipin allegedly thrashed the woman, who then filed a police complaint.
Nikki’s final hours were captured on phone video by her sister Kanchan—first being dragged by her hair, then engulfed in flames as she stumbled down the stairs. She suffered 70% burns and died on the way to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital.
Police arrested Vipin, his parents, and his brother, with Vipin shot in the leg during an attempted escape. Neighbours spoke of ongoing family tensions, particularly over Nikki and Kanchan’s beauty parlour reels on Instagram, which their husbands disapproved of.
But Nikki’s father rejects that narrative. “Dowry was the only reason,” he said, recalling how despite giving a Scorpio, a motorcycle, gold jewellery, and large sums of money, fresh demands of ₹36 lakh and a luxury car continued.
For years, Nikki pleaded with her father for money “to keep peace in the house.” He gave in, even against his own better judgment. But peace never lasted. Time and again, she was beaten and returned home, only to be pushed back after family apologies. This cycle ended only with her death—burnt alive in the very home where she had once dreamed of a future.