A Family's Wait That Ended in Heartbreak

What began as an ordinary Sunday for a determined young girl with dreams of becoming a doctor ended in unimaginable tragedy for her family. Nikki Yadav, a 21-year-old NEET-UG aspirant from Indore, went missing after appearing in Sunday's NEET-UG retest and was found dead the following day in the Narmada river, nearly 70 kilometres away from where she was last seen.

The discovery has left her family devastated and raised deeply troubling questions about the circumstances surrounding her disappearance and death.

Who Was Nikki Yadav?

A Young Woman with a Dream

Nikki Yadav was a resident of the Talawali Chanda area in Indore's Lasudiya locality. The 21-year-old was the daughter of Ramanand Yadav, who works as an accountant. She had been working hard toward her dream of becoming a doctor and had reportedly appeared in the NEET-UG examination twice, determined to secure a seat in a medical college.

An Accomplished Family

Nikki came from a family with a strong academic background. Her two elder sisters are software engineers, her elder brother is also an engineer, and her younger brother Shivam is still in school. By all accounts, Nikki was following in the footsteps of her siblings, striving to carve out a professional path for herself in the medical field.

What Happened on Sunday — The Last Known Moments

Dropped at the Exam Centre in Mhow

On Sunday morning, Nikki's younger brother Shivam dropped her at her NEET-UG retest examination centre located in Mhow, a sub-division of Indore. It appeared to be a routine exam day — no different from the previous times she had appeared for the competitive entrance test.

The Last Phone Call

After completing her examination, Nikki made a phone call to her mother — but not from her own phone. She told her mother that she was calling from a fellow student's device because her own phone battery had run out. She assured her mother that she would be home within a few hours.

That phone call turned out to be the last communication her family had with her.

Family Raises Alarm

When Nikki had not returned home by 10 PM on Sunday night, her family grew worried and began searching for her. Unable to locate her despite their efforts, they reported her missing to the Bhawarkuan police station in Indore a few hours later. What followed was a desperate and anxious wait that would end in the most tragic way possible.

The Search and the Discovery

Body Found in Narmada River, 70 Km Away

On Monday afternoon, a body was recovered from the Narmada river in the jurisdiction of Karahi police station in Khargone district — approximately 70 kilometres from where Nikki was last known to be. However, identifying the deceased proved difficult initially, and despite efforts throughout Monday, her identity could not be confirmed.

Identity Established Through Police Coordination

Photographs of the recovered body were circulated to police stations across Khargone and neighbouring districts, including Indore. It was late Monday night when Karahi police station received a call from Bhawarkuan police station in Indore, suggesting that the body might be that of Nikki Yadav, who had been reported missing the previous evening.

Karahi police station in-charge Rajendra Ingle confirmed the sequence of events. Since her identity could not be established on Monday, the body was kept at the deep freezer mortuary at Maheshwar Hospital. On Tuesday morning, Nikki's father and other family members, who had made the overnight journey from Indore, arrived and formally identified the body as that of their missing daughter.

Investigation Underway — Cause of Death Not Yet Determined

No External Injuries Found

Preliminary examination of the body revealed no visible external injuries, which led investigators to state that the case does not prima facie appear to be one of murder. However, police have been careful to emphasize that the final cause of death — whether suicide, accident or homicide — will only be determined after the completion of the autopsy, which was underway at the time of reporting.

Inspector Ingle said the family identified the body on Tuesday morning and that the post-mortem examination had been initiated to establish the exact cause of death.

Last Phone Location Points to Riverside Barwaha

Sources associated with the ongoing investigation revealed a significant detail: the last known location traced from Nikki's mobile phone was Barwaha, a town situated on the banks of the Narmada river in Khargone district. This location data has led investigators to consider the possibility that Nikki may have gone to the riverside after leaving her examination centre on Sunday.

Police sources acknowledged that the possibility of Nikki having jumped into the Narmada river on Sunday night cannot be ruled out at this stage, though the investigation is still in its early phases.

A Grief-Stricken Family and Unanswered Questions

The discovery of Nikki's body has left her family shattered. Her father Ramanand Yadav and other family members travelled through the night from Indore to Khargone upon receiving the information, arriving at the mortuary in the early hours of Tuesday morning to complete the heartbreaking task of identifying their daughter.

The circumstances surrounding Nikki's disappearance immediately after her NEET examination — a high-pressure, life-defining test for thousands of medical aspirants across the country — have inevitably raised questions about the immense psychological burden that such competitive examinations place on young students.

While investigators have not yet drawn any formal conclusions, the trajectory from the exam centre in Mhow to the Narmada riverbank in Khargone — a distance of 70 kilometres — remains the central focus of the ongoing inquiry.
Investigation Continues

Police authorities in both Indore and Khargone are coordinating their efforts as the investigation continues. The autopsy results are expected to provide critical answers about the cause and time of death, which will be the key determinant in establishing whether this was a case of suicide, accidental drowning or foul play.

Until those results are available, the case remains under active investigation, and the full truth behind Nikki Yadav's tragic and untimely death is yet to be uncovered.