PGI injection mystery cracked: ‘Contract killer’ who posed as nurse was hired by victim’s brother, nabbed: Cops
A contract killer hired by a woman's brother attempted to kill her at a hospital in Chandigarh due to her inter-caste marriage. The brother and two others have been arrested. The victim remains in critical condition.
The life attempt on the 25-year-old woman, admitted at the gynaecology ward of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, had been made by a contract killer, allegedly hired by her brother, who was upset over her marriage to a man of a different caste, police said on Tuesday.
Cops have arrested the mystery woman, who had allegedly injected an unknown substance to the victim after posing as a nurse at the hospital. The accused woman has been identified as Jaspreet Kaur, 20, of Safipur Khurd village of Sangrur, a paramedic who worked as a caretaker and had training in administering injections, police said.
Based on her statements, the victim’s brother Jasmeet Singh, 23, of Pehar Khurd village, Rajpura, and two others have also been arrested for criminal conspiracy.
The victim, Harmeet Kaur, 25, of Rajpura, had been injected with an unknown substance on November 15 when she was admitted at the gynaecology ward of the hospital after her delivery.
Police said the victim’s family, who are Jat Sikhs, were upset that she had married Gurvinder Singh, a Rajput Sikh. The couple had been forced to seek police protection, owing to constant threats from Harmeet’s family, after their marriage in September 2022.
Cops said that Harmeet’s family had been keeping tabs on her health ever since they found out that she was admitted at PGIMER.
‘Drug sourced from Rajindra Hospital’
The two others who have been taken into custody are -- Buta Singh, 38, a relative of the victim, and Mandeep Singh, 25, who works in patient care, on suspicion that they had helped obtain the drug used in the crime. Though it is not yet clear what drug was used in the crime, police have found out that it was sourced from Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, by the duo through their contacts.
Police are probing if the drug was brought from a specific chemist.
‘Picture clicked by victim’s sister-in-law helped’
On how the cops traced the accused, police said the picture clicked by the victim’s sister-in-law had been shown to other paramedics, who had provided crucial leads to cops on her identity.
She was traced to Sangrur, from where she hails and was hiding at after executing the crime.
Upon her interrogation, the role of the victim’s brother and two others was established.
The victim’s brother is an agriculturalist in Rajpura and was arrested from his house. The two others were caught from their houses in Patiala.
Jaspreet Kaur, who was arrested on Tuesday and presented in court, was sent to two-day police remand. The other three accused will be presented in the court on Wednesday.
UT senior superintendent of police (SSP) Kanwardeep Kaur said, “We had received the complaint on November 16. The victim’s brother was not happy with her inter-caste marriage and had attempted to kill her as an act of revenge.”
SSP Kaur said all those involved in this conspiracy have been arrested. She confirmed that Jaspreet Kaur had taken up the job for monetary benefit however it is not yet clear how much she was paid. The victim continues to remain critical and on ventilator support at PGIMER.
