Yuvraj Manchanda murder: Rs 90 lakh cheque, fake threat and plot to kill Adani Realty manager

On September 2, Yuvraj Manchanda, a manager at Adani Realty, was sitting at Roots Cafe in Gurugram’s Sector 29 with Anya Vats, a former colleague who now worked as a freelance real estate agent.

“Anya had told him about some flats in Gurugram’s Pyramid Society in Sector 70 that were available at throwaway prices. They met to discuss finances,” said a Delhi Police officer.

A source with the Delhi Police said Anya was also finding out exactly how much money Yuvraj could put together: how much he had in his accounts, how much he planned to borrow from banks, and how much he was taking from friends and family.

She then asked for his phone to check something.

“She wanted to see his password. She had already accessed his bank account statements and bank balance in the name of formalities for the sale of the plot,” said a police officer.

Four days later, Yuvraj was dead.

Police alleged that Anya and her live-in partner, Sanyam, shot him dead on September 6 inside their white Creta in Gurugram’s Sector 70. His body was later dumped in a drain.

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A police officer said the murder was linked to a post-dated cheque of Rs 90 lakh that Anya had issued to settle a cheating case involving a senior Punjab National Bank (PNB) official. With the money unavailable, investigators alleged, she targeted Yuvraj and fabricated a threat to draw her partner into the plan.

From colleagues to partners

Yuvraj, Anya and Sanyam had all worked at real estate developer Emaar, said police.

Anya was allegedly fired in 2022 over financial mismanagement, while Yuvraj later left the company. “She had been bringing clients to Emaar, but was also making side-deals, along with Sanyam, for extra money. When the company learnt of it, she and Sanyam were fired,” said a police officer.

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Anya and Sanyam’s relationship had also begun at Emaar, said police.

When she first met Sanyam in 2022, he had been married for six years and had a daughter.

A police officer said she allegedly “texted his wife, claiming that Sanyam was making romantic advances towards her. She also allegedly created a fake profile of his wife and showed it to Sanyam, trying to prove that she was also keeping secrets from him. Ultimately, Sanyam left his wife and daughter and started living with Anya.”

After being let go from Emaar, the couple went to Dehradun for over one and a half years before returning to Gurugram. Anya and Sanyam had a son.

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By September, Anya was facing another problem. She needed money.

A cheating case 

According to a police officer, Anya had two cases of cheating registered against her.

One of them involved the high-level PNB official, whom Anya and Sanyam had allegedly cheated of Rs 1.25 crore between 2025 and 2026. A case was registered against them at Parliament Street police station in August this year.

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In the FIR lodged on August 16, the PNB official said he had been served fake ED notices by Anya and Sanyam.

Police said Anya then claimed strong connections in the government, and allegedly took more than Rs 1.25 crore from him, saying the money was being paid to get his name cleared. But when they demanded more money, the official examined the notices and allegedly found them forged.

“Anya feared further action, so she proposed an out-of-court settlement to the complainant. He demanded that she start by paying him a post-dated cheque of Rs 90 lakh,” said a police officer.

But Anya didn’t have Rs 90 lakh in her account.

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That’s when Yuvraj got in touch with her, she told the police during questioning. “She claimed Yuvraj had texted her about some work earlier. She knew he was doing well from his social media,” said a police officer.

Her plan, a police officer claimed, was to take Yuvraj’s money and clear her dues with the PNB officer.

The ‘fake threat’ 

Police said Anya needed help to put her plan into motion.

Police said she allegedly showed Sanyam some messages from a ‘senior officer’, threatening her to return his money. The only way to pay him back, she allegedly told Sanyam, was to kill their former colleague Yuvraj and take his money.

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“But there was no senior officer. It was Anya posing as one; she had allegedly been sending messages to herself since April from a different number to make Sanyam believe she had influential connections,” said a police officer.

She asked Sanyam to get a gun and two bedsheets and keep them inside their SUV.

On September 6, she called Yuvraj.

He was having a late lunch with his sister, Karishma, at the Golden Dragon restaurant in Lajpat Nagar, K Block.

According to a police officer, Anya told Yuvraj that there was a client who was willing to invest with Adani Realty. But the deal could only be sealed if Yuvraj came then and there.

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Yuvraj drove his MG Astor to the location and then got into Anya’s car, police said.

Inside, Anya and Sanyam allegedly shot Yuvraj dead, covered his body with bedsheets and kept it in the vehicle for two days.

Messages that kept a family waiting

Karishma, a doctor based in Faridabad, had told The Indian Express, that her brother rushed off after the call.

“We were shopping for his wedding. Then he got a call and left abruptly, saying he had a meeting in Gurugram and would return by 10 pm.”

But Yuvraj did not return home that night. Karishma received a text from him saying he was fine and in an important meeting. “The next day, I got another text… he repeated that he was fine and that he might have to go to Bengaluru,” she said.

Police alleged that Anya was sending the messages from Yuvraj’s phone, using the password she had seen him enter during their September 2 meeting.

She even sent Karishma a ticket to Bengaluru, said Sahil, Yuvraj’s childhood friend. “But after September 8, his phone was switched off.”

By then, police alleged, Anya and Sanyam dumped the body in a drain in Badshahpur. The couple then travelled to Vrindavan and several other places before reaching Kainchi Dham in Uttarakhand, where they stayed in a paying guest accommodation.

“They were later arrested from Kainchi Dham after their vehicle was traced. A gun was recovered from them along with Yuvraj’s car and phone,” a police officer said.

On September 11, Karishma approached the Lajpat Nagar police station and filed a complaint.

On September 16, the Delhi Police learnt that a body had been found days earlier in Gurugram Sector 70 by their counterparts in the city who later cremated it after failing to identify it.