Sahil Gehlot, who allegedly strangled his girlfriend Nikki Yadav with a data cable at Kashmiri Gate, has told the investigators that after killing her, he deleted all chats and data from her mobile phone and kept it with him after taking out the SIM card.

Investigators have recovered her mobile phone from Gehot's possession and have been sent for forensic examination.

Any argumentative chat between the accused and the victim would have been another piece of evidence that would have strengthened the case against Gehlot, a resident of Mitraon village, sources said, adding that possibly, fearing this, he formatted the phone.

According to the official, on February 9 night, Gehlot, a resident of Mitraon village, went to meet the woman at her Uttam Nagar residence where she lived with her younger sister.

"Gehlot stayed there for two-three hours and later both of them went to Nizammudin railway station. But as they could not get tickets to Goa, they changed their plan to go to Himachal Pradesh and reached ISBT, Kashmere Gate," said the official.

"When the duo reached ISBT, an argument broke out between them. In between the fight, Gehlot kept receiving back-to-back calls from his family, which he says triggered him to his threshold point and he turned violent," said a source.

He then strangled Nikki with his mobile phone data cable inside the car, probably around 8 a.m. on February 10, drove to his dhaba to hide her body, and then proceeded with his wedding on February 10. (KB/IANS)