The murder of a 72-year-old US citizen, Rupinder Kaur Pandher, in Kila Raipur in Ludhiana district has led the police to a Ludhiana-based NRI, who had reportedly promised to marry Pandher, but later got her killed for money after she came to Punjab from Seattle to marry him.
The primary suspect apprehended by the police, Sukhjeet Singh Sonu, has admitted to committing the murder on the night of July 12 and 13 at the behest of UK-based NRI Charanjit Singh Grewal (75).
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The police said Pandher had transferred large sums of money to accounts linked to the suspects. ACP Harjinder Singh Gill said Sonu had also confessed to trying to destroy evidence by burning the body with diesel in a storeroom at his house and disposing of the remains in a drain near Lehra village. The police have recovered some skeletal remains, which have been sent for forensic test.
Pandher’s sister Kamal Kaur Khairah had alerted the US Embassy in India on July 28 after not being able to contact her. The case came to light when the family was told by a friend about Sonu’s detention by the Dehlon police.
The police said Grewal, who originally hails from Mehma Singh Wala village, had promised Sonu Rs 50 lakh to carry out the murder. They said Pandher had transferred funds to both Sonu and his brother before she went missing. Having seized some incriminating evidence from Sonu’s house, the police are in the process of arresting Grewal, who is said to be in England.
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