Apparently taking inspiration from TV shows on crime, a Sonipat resident allegedly murdered a popular Haryana TikTok star but kept her ‘virtually alive’ for two days by posting messages and videos from her phone.
Shivani Khubiyan, who ran a beauty parlour in Sonipat and had over 1 lakh followers on TikTok, was allegedly murdered by her neighbour, Arif, for refusing his advances. Though she was reportedly killed on June 26, it was only late on Sunday that her body was found stuffed in a cabinet in her beauty parlour. The victim's family called police who took the body for postmortem and registered a case.
According to Shivani’s sister, Shweta, Arif had come to meet Shivani on June 26 and her sister had told her this in their last conversation. “She did not return home that night and I made frantic calls and messages to her telling that our mother was ill. I got a message from her phone, saying she was fine and in Haridwar and would be back by Tuesday,” Shweta told police.
It was late on Sunday evening that a friend, Neeraj, went to the beauty parlour after a neighbour informed about a foul stench coming from inside the parlour and discovered the body. According to Shivani's father, Arif had been stalking her since last three years. The family had even shifted their home but he found her and followed her around. “We had moved the police that took action and he had even apologised. But he never left my daughter and took revenge,” said her father, Vinod Khubiyan.
With Arif still absconding, the police have started searching his possible hideouts. A senior investigator revealed that a video was posted on TikTok from the deceased person’s account seven hours before the discovery of her body. “We are awaiting the postmortem report to ascertain the time of death. The state of the body hints at death two-three days ago. The accused, who is still absconding, had been using her mobile to make her family and entire world believe that she is still alive. We have some major leads about his hideout,” revealed a senior investigator on condition of anonymity.