5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Singer on Radhika Yadav music video: ‘It's being turned into a Hindu-Muslim issue'
The music video opens with a man riding his bike down a deserted street. As he drives, memories of a lost love surface — tender, black-and-white flashbacks of a smiling young woman flicker throughout.
That young woman in the video is state-level tennis player Radhika Yadav — she was killed five days ago, shot dead allegedly by her father at their Gurgaon home.
Since her death, the 2.56-minute YouTube video uploaded last January has gone viral — climbing from just 21,000 views on July 11 to over 1 lakh — and with it has come a wave of online trolling and speculation.
Though the Gurgaon Police have ruled out any link between the video or Radhika's social media activity and the motive for her killing, both Radhika and her co-star, singer-actor Inamul Haq, have been targeted online. Some users are attempting to communalise the tragedy, drawing false links to 'love jihad.'
'We were in touch just professionally'
Inamul, who hails from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, said his name is being dragged unnecessarily into the case.
Speaking to The Indian Express from Dubai, where he has been staying for the past three months for business purposes, Inamul said he barely knew Radhika.
'I woke up to the news on July 11. My phone wouldn't stop ringing,' he recalled. 'I called my mother in Aligarh — she was crying. She asked about my relationship with Radhika, and I told her we were only professionally connected.'
'After watching the video, people assumed we were very close, but that's simply not true,' he added. 'People are turning this into a Hindu-Muslim issue… there is no angle of 'love jihad'.
Inamul, who began his singing career after participating in the reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs in 2011, has taken part in several other singing reality shows and has acted in two Hindi serials — Crime Patrol and Ashoka.
Inamul said he had met Radhika only twice.
Their first meeting took place during the player selection exercise for the Punjab Tigers, a team under the Tennis Premier League, in Delhi. 'The owner of the team is Raminder Singh, and the co-owner is actor Taapsee Pannu. I was working as the creative head for the team, tasked with filming players during their trials,' he said.
'My colleague came to me and said that one of the players had a very good screen presence… and she was interested in working in ads, music videos,' Inamul claimed.
'I asked my teammate to stay in touch with her… Later, we (Radhika and I) connected on Instagram. I told her if anything suitable came along, I would let her know,' he added.
Inamul said he began planning the Karwaan music video last year. A friend in Canada had liked the song and offered to produce and act in it. A Delhi-based director joined the project, and a WhatsApp group was created to coordinate. Inamul shared two or three profiles, including Radhika's, for the female lead.
'We always ask before sharing an artist's profile. I had sent Radhika the song's audio beforehand, and told her we could offer a small goodwill amount since it was a low-budget project. She agreed to be part of it,' he said.
Meanwhile, he said his friend backed out, and Inamul stepped in as the lead. 'We finalised Radhika for the role.'
The song was being shot in Greater Noida. 'Radhika came with her mother… During the shoot, Radhika told me her father liked the audio of the song — which meant she had his permission to participate… She looked calm and composed,' he said.
He said he shared the song's teaser with Radhika, but she didn't respond. 'I asked her if there was something wrong with the video, and we could re-edit it if needed. She wasn't promoting it and told me that she was busy, which is why she couldn't respond,' he said.
He said his last conversation with Radhika was on April 6, during which he offered her a jewellery advertisement, but she recommended her friend for the role instead.
Inamul said he is ready to cooperate with the probe. 'I am open to any probe. If they ask for my phone, I will hand it over. The police are free to do whatever is necessary, he added.
On Thursday morning, Radhika was cooking when her father, Deepak Yadav, allegedly shot her in the waist with his pistol.
Her uncle, Kuldeep Yadav, 46, who lives on the ground floor with his family, said he heard the gunshots, rushed upstairs, found Radhika lying in a pool of blood, and eventually lodged a complaint.
The FIR states that Deepak was taunted by villagers in Wazirabad whenever he went to buy milk, saying that he was living off his daughter's income. He had asked her to stop coaching at a tennis academy where she worked, but she refused.
