Harleen Dulai's murder: A complete timeline of events
Harleen Dulai, a 29-year-old fitness trainer, was found dead in a Las Vegas condo on July 16, 2020. It was a man named Akshaya Kubiak who called the 911 emergency, informing them that a dead woman was lying beside him. Kubiak narrated to the police that he and Harleen had taken a mushroom psychedelic.
The police discovered she was a graduate of Temple University, a successful gym trainer, and an aspiring model. Initially, authorities considered the case to be a drug-induced death. However, upon close investigation, they found that Harleen Dulai had been murdered.
Sin City Gigolo: A Murder in Las Vegas is a three-part docuseries covering the story of Harleen Dulai and the complete timeline behind her murder investigation. The docuseries was released on March 4, 2025, on Paramount+. The official synopsis of the docuseries reads:
"A GIGOLOS reality TV star's arrest for murdering a client in 2020 exposed dark truths behind the once-popular Vegas show. The documentary blends series footage with crime investigation, exploring s*x work, fame, and reality TV's impact."
What is the story of Harleen Dulai?
As per Refinery 29 (published April 2021), Harleen Dulai was a biological science graduate who moved to Las Vegas in 2017 to pursue her post-bachelor's degree. With her appearance, she started her career as a new model. Harleen was of Indian descent and was brought up in a California neighborhood with two older siblings.
Her friends and family described her as a jolly spirit and a kind-hearted young girl. However, Harleen's life took a sudden turn after she moved to Las Vegas and started feeling out of place. She was suffering from deteriorating physical and mental health.
Soon, she joined the A.C.E. gym and started training under the mentorship of Nick Lewis. Nick described Harleen Dulai's behaviour to be sometimes very unusual, where she claimed to have a tumor in her head. Harleen went on to claim of being diagnosed with a brain tumour and undergoing chemotherapy.
Harleen had strong beliefs that she had cancer, however, the medical physician declared it was a thyroid tumour, and there was no cancer. However, soon her condition started to improve, and the gym played a major contribution into it. Eventually, Harleen Dulai became a personal trainer at A.C.E. Fitness Gym and started posting workout videos on her social media.
However, Harleen's struggles with her mental health began to deteriorate, and she abruptly left her job of personal training at the Gym. Her friends revealed that Harleen was getting back into depression again. As per Refinery 29, it was between May and June 2020 when Akshaya Kubiak first contacted Harleen Dulai through her Instagram.
Kubiak had an attractive physique and had been working as a gigolo in Miami. He lived with his ex-partner and their son and notably appeared in Showtime's Gigolos. Kubiak was still working as a se* worker, and most of Dulai's friends agreed that she was paying Kubiak. Soon, the relationship between the two grew more intense, and the two frequently began meeting each other.
As per Refinery 29, Akshaya Kubiak was raised by bohemian parents in a household of spiritual tradition. Both of his parents were teachers who taught Kubiak meditation and healing practices involving different herbs.
He started working as a massage therapist back in the early 2000s. He was connected to a psychedelic community and was habituated with attending and consuming mushrooms at electric music parties in the woods.
It was in 2012 when Kubiak moved to Miami to start his own business in massage therapy. He additionally joined a male escort service named Cowboys4Angels, which earned him an appearance in the second season of Showtimes' Gigolos. Kubiak slowly started doing steroids and got involved in drug abuse. In 2019, he was fired from the escort agency and started living in his Las Vegas condo.
Kubiak was surviving on the profits that came from his fans from Gigolos and went on to make appearances in D-list films. During the pandemic, Kubiak had increased his steroid intake, mostly spending his days taking psychedelics at his condo.
The death of Harleen Dulai
It was during this time that Kubiak took a trip with Harleen Dulai to Utah, and the two started to develop a relationship, and soon, Kubiak broke up with Lisa. On July 15, 2020, the day before Harleen Dulai died, she arrived at Kubiak's condo.
Her friend Lewis reported that Harleen had turned off her phone's location tracking. Lewis knew that this was an indication that she may be in danger, and he should check on her.
Reportedly, the two took mushrooms, went into Akshaya's bedroom, and watched Avatar. The next morning, Kubiak called 911, informing that Harleen had a heart attack and she had a history of cancer. As per the Refinery 29 article, Captain Darren Lutes from the Clark County Fire Department reported to the crime scene.
The team found Kubiak in his upstairs bedroom, giving CPR to Harleen Dubai's body. Lutes soon noticed that Harleen had a swollen face, with dry blood on her hair, and a big injury on her ear. There was blood splattered all over the crime scene, including handprints. Kubiak made up a story that Harleen was trying to attack him, and the bruises were caused out of self-defense.
When homicide detectives arrived at the scene, they found bloody clothes inside the washing machine. There were bloodstains on the bathroom counter and a towel soaked in blood, indicating an attempt to clean the crime scene. The detectives found Mushrooms in the refrigerator.
What became more shocking was that though Kubiak claimed to have been attacked, he just had a small cut on his finger and a patch of blood in his ear, which was from the performed CPR.
Harleen Dulai's autopsy reports showed major injuries
When forensic physicians provided the reports of Harleen's autopsy, it was found that her entire body was covered with bruises. Her face, including her gums, was fractured, with parts of her broken teeth found in her stomach. Parts of the hands, legs, tongue, and nose had fractures. Notably, one of her ribs and neck were broken.
The autopsy reports revealed that Harleen Dulai died of strangulation and blunt force trauma from a very heavy object. Traces of alcohol, methamphetamine, psilocybin, and caffeine were found in her system, indicating that she was intoxicated before she died.
Akshaya Kubiak was found guilty of the murder of Harleen Dulai
As per the Refinery 29 article, Kubiak came under prime suspicion for the murder of Harleen Dulai. Kubiak's old boss from Cowboys4Angels, Garren James, got a call from a lawyer asking her for funds as defense for the case. Reportedly, Akshaya Kubiak's parents set up a GoGet Funding site to collect money for their son's legal defense.
Garren James said that the people who defended Kubiak still considered him to be the same person before he appeared on Gigolos. As per James, fame changed him completely. It was in September 2021 when Akshaya Kubiak pleaded guilty to the murder of Harleen Dulai and accepted the charges of manslaughter and mayhem.
He was sentenced to 8 to 20 years in prison. Ever since 2021, Ahshaya Kubiak has been serving his imprisonment at a correctional center in Nevada. As per The Telegraph article published on March 7, 2025, he will be eligible for parole in 2028.
Check out our other articles to know more details about other cases of Sin City Gigolo: A Murder in Las Vegas.
