The body of former model Divya Pahuja, who was shot dead in a Gurgaon hotel last week, has been found in a Haryana canal. Police said that the body had been thrown in Bhakra canal in Punjab and had drifted to the neighbouring state.

The body was recovered by a team of the Gurugram Police from Haryana’s Tohna. Cops said that they sent photos to Pahuja’s family, who identified her body. The body has been sent for an autopsy.

“The incident happened on January 1 and the body was dumped on January 2,” said senior Gurgaon police officer Mukesh Kumar. “We identified the victim’s body through her tattoos.”

One of the accused had yesterday confessed that he had dumped her body in a canal in Punjab.

Balraj Gill, who was arrested from Kolkata airport last evening when he was trying to board a flight, told the police during his interrogation that he disposed of the former model’s body in a canal in Patiala, which is about 270 kilometres from Gurugram, where she was allegedly murdered on January 1.

Divya Pahuja was killed at a Gurgaon hotel on January 1, with CCTV footage showing killers dragging her body out of the hotel to a car.

The 27-year-old was taken to a hotel room by five men. She was shot in the head as she had allegedly been blackmailing the hotel owner with his obscene pictures, police said.

Sources said Pahuja allegedly had some obscene videos of the hotel owner Abhijeet Singh on her phone which he asked her to delete, but she refused. The former model was allegedly blackmailing with the photos and this led to Singh and at least two of his aides shooting her. Pahuja’s family has vehemently denied this charge.

Divya Pahuja was in jail for her alleged involvement in the fake encounter of her then-boyfriend and Gurugram gangster Sandeep Gadoli in 2016. She had been granted bail in June last year. 

After intense deliberations, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge has been chosen for the chairperson of opposition bloc INDIA, sources said. INDIA bloc is yet to make an official announcement. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was another contender for the top post, but in today’s meeting he said that someone from Congress should assume charge.

INDIA or ‘Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance’ is a group of opposition parties, including the Congress. The parties have come together to take on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and prevent it from winning a third straight term at the Centre in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Today’s meeting was attended by representatives from all parties, except for Trinamool Congress and Samajwadi Party.

Several leaders attending the meet stressed on the importance to ensure unity at the national level and not allow state-level rifts to disturb the alliance.

However, choosing a chairperson is only one facet of the many challenges faced by the INDIA bloc. They still have to tackle the issue of seat-sharing between all the parties.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party is not expected to be in a forgiving mood given the state Congress’s refusal to share any seats in the assembly elections. State party chief Kamal Nath had refused to honour the central leadership’s commitment for six seats in the state.

The ripples were very public. Akhilesh Yadav’s swipes at the Congress were followed by the party’s crushing defeat in the three heartland states and the sacking of Kamal Nath from the top post.

Congress’s discussion with AAP is also proving contentious. While the party wants 4 seats in Delhi and seven seats in Punjab, AAP is not ready to comply. In both Delhi and Punjab, the ruling party wants the bigger share of seats. AAP also wants to contest in Goa, Haryana and Gujarat, sources said.  

Anurag Kashyap recently had a meeting with Sandeep Reddy Vanga and expressed admiration for his latest film, Animal. Taking to Instagram on Saturday, Anurag praised Sandeep as the “most misunderstood, judged and reviled filmmaker at the moment” and shared pictures of their encounter.

In the initial photo, Anurag Kashyap smiled, placing his hand around Sandeep’s shoulder. For the occasion, Anurag sported a cream T-shirt under a black jacket and denim pants, while Sandeep was seen in a printed shirt and trousers. Both shared smiles and posed for the photographs.

Captioning the images, Anurag wrote, “Had a great evening with @sandeepreddy.vanga. The most misunderstood, judged and reviled filmmaker at the moment. To me, he is the most honest, vulnerable and a lovely human being. And I really don’t give a f””” what anyone thinks of him or his film. I wanted to meet the man and I had questions and he answered everything I asked of him about his film that I actually saw twice.”

“Thank you for being patient and being yourself. 40’days since I first saw Animal and 22 days since I saw it the second time. The biggest game changer of Hindi cinema in the longest time and a film whose impact (good or bad) which can’t be denied. And the filmmaker who takes it all on his chin. Great evening spent with him,” he added.

Animal was one of the biggest blockbusters of 2023. However, it was also criticised for its depiction of misogyny. The film revolves around a troubled father-son relationship, featuring Ranbir Kapoor in the role of Rannvijay Singh, seeking revenge after an assassination attempt on his father.