New Delhi: Police are exploring whether Yuvraj Singh Manchanda, a project manager at Adani Realty, may have had doubts about a fraud racket allegedly being run by his former colleague, Anya Vats, and her partner, Sanyam Sachdeva. Manchanda was allegedly killed by the couple in Gurgaon on Sept 6.Police have found that the couple allegedly targeted people close to them, including a former schoolmate of Sachdeva, who was duped of Rs 1.2 crore after receiving a fake Enforcement Directorate notice. The cheating case was registered at Parliament Street police station this Aug.The complainant, a senior vice-president at a non-banking financial company that is a subsidiary of a public sector bank, told police that the extortion began in Sept 2024, when he received the fraudulent notice on WhatsApp allegedly involving an acquaintance.According to the complainant, Sachdeva, a former schoolmate, along with Vats, allegedly claimed to have high-level govt connections and offered to settle the matter. The duo allegedly also used fabricated notices in the name of Union home ministry, citing fake cases under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, to coerce him into transferring money.The complainant allegedly transferred over Rs 1.2 crore primarily to Vats’ bank account, using his personal savings, loans and family borrowings. Vats later demanded another Rs 26 crore while claiming that Rs 13.8 crore was paid to govt agencies on his behalf. The complainant finally realised that he had fallen prey to a fraud racket and approached police.In the FIR, the complainant also mentioned a WhatsApp message, which read, “I command/order you to repay 30 before Diwali. And reasons can be many to avoid, but it won’t work. Everybody has children and families, you aren’t special. Sell your wife/do anything, just repay this.”Sources said Sachdeva had also duped his estranged wife over a property worth around Rs 4.5 crore in Greater Noida. A third case involved a domestic violence complaint filed by the wife.Police are now probing whether Manchanda had learnt about any of these alleged activities. The inquiry also revealed that Vats and Sachdeva had called him on the pretext of a client meeting on the day of the murder.Corroborating this, a family friend of Manchanda said, “Yuvraj had informed his fiance that he was meeting the clients with Vats in 20 minutes and would call back soon.”Investigators have seized an illegal pistol and the victim’s car, and both are being examined by forensic teams. Electronic equipment, including the accused’s phones, has been sent to Forensic Science Laboratory to determine whether the couple had searched online for ways to dispose of a body.Cops have found that the accused stopped in Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh, while fleeing to Uttarakhand after the murder. They suspect this might have been part of an attempt to dodge police.“They have been continuously changing their statements about the alleged monetary dispute with Manchanda,” sources said. “Vats claimed that the victim had threatened her, but no evidence has been found so far,” an officer said.Manchanda’s family has claimed that even on Sept 16, Gurgaon Police uploaded his entry in the “Unidentified persons found” portal on ZIPNET instead of “Unidentified dead bodies”. The body was found in Gurgaon on Sept 10.Gurgaon Police, however, said there was no delay on its part and Delhi police should have lodged a missing FIR within 24 hours of receiving the information from the family. They should also have flagged it to Gurgaon Police timely, knowing that Manchanda worked in Gurgaon, said a senior officer.
