In her dying declaration, Nikki Bhati, who was allegedly set ablaze by her husband and in-laws over dowry demands, claimed that she suffered burn injuries while cooking.
A hospital memo too states that she was admitted to the hospital on August 21 after suffering "severe burns in a gas cylinder explosion at home."
"The statement of the doctors and nurses who were present at the time of her admission has been recorded. Nikki told them that she sustained burn injuries due to a blast in a gas cylinder," news agency PTI quoted a police official as saying.
However, police have ruled out the cylinder blast explosion as the reason for the death following the investigation. The investigation team has also recovered an empty thinner bottle and a lighter from the house.
Who was she trying to protect?
According to media reports, she may have concealed the real reason for the burns as she did not want anyone to be arrested. Investigating officers have suggested that Nikki did not want to implicate her in-laws in the case, as her younger sister Kanchan is also married into the same family.
“It is believed she did not want anyone to be sent behind bars, which is why she did not blame anyone in her last words,” Kasna station house officer (SHO) Dharmendra Shukla has been quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
She had also told the doctors that she suffered the burn injuries in a gas cylinder blast.
The FIR in has been registered under sections 103(1) (murder), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), and 61(2) (attempt to commit offences punishable with life imprisonment) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita in connection with the case.
Meanwhile, the family members of Nikki met with a member of the Uttar Pradesh State Commission for Women and demanded a fast-track court trial in the case.