US-based NRI strangled in Kapurthala village, in-laws held; husband booked
A 30-year-old NRI woman was strangled to death at her in-laws' village in Kapurthala, India. Her in-laws and husband have been arrested.
KAPURTHALA : A 30-year-old US-based NRI woman was strangled at Kapurthala’s Nenomallian village.
The victim was identified as Rajdeep Kaur, who was staying in the US for past seven years. The police have registered a case against the victim’s in-laws Jasdev Singh, Baljit Kaur and husband Manjinder Singh under Sections of 302 (murder), 120-b (criminal conspiracy) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Pena Code (IPC). While the in-laws have been arrested, the husband is living in the US illegally, the police said.
The matter came to light when the victim’s mother, Nirmal Kaur, a UK resident, alleged that her daughter was called to India along with her 5-year-old son on January 12 on the pretext of attending a wedding. On January 24, I received call from her in-laws that Rajdeep was admitted to local hospital due to heart illness, where she died after brief treatment. I immediately rushed to India from the UK but started inquiring about my daughter’s death,” she stated in her complaint to the police.
She alleged that her in-laws were not in favour of conducting the post-mortem and asked to perform her last rites without medical investigation.
“I got suspicious as her in-laws and relatives kept changing their statements. I approached local police and filed a complaint on January 26,” she said, adding that there was no wedding function in the family.
Deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Babandeep Singh said on the basis of initial post-mortem report, it has been found that the victim was strangled to death.
“The victim’s in-laws were taken in custody during which they confessed that Rajdeep was murdered and was rushed to a hospital to show that she died a natural death,” the DSP said.
Police said in the preliminary investigation, it came to fore that her husband Manjinder is also part of the conspiracy.
The victim’s mother alleged that the minor son of her daughter is also missing and is reportedly in the custody of the accused persons’ relatives.
“Property dispute might be the reason behind the murder,” the DSP said.
