Punjab, India

A 30-year-old Non-resident Indian (NRI) was allegedly killed by her in-laws in Punjab’s Kapurthala district last week in a property dispute case. The victim, identified as Rajdeep Kaur, had been living in the US for the last seven years. However, she was called to India by her in-laws on the pretext of attending a wedding. 

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Police have now registered a case against the victim’s in-laws Jasdev Singh, Baljit Kaur and husband Manjinder Singh under Sections 302 (murder), 120-b (criminal conspiracy) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Police said the husband of the victim is living in the US illegally and is reportedly involved in the conspiracy of Kaur’s murder and has been charged.

"It is believed the woman was murdered as she had a hefty life insurance coverage," said Babandeep Singh, DSP of Sultanpur Lodhi. The family allegedly put the dead body of the victim in a freezer for two days before informing the police.

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How the matter came to light

The victim’s mother, who lives in the UK, received a call from Kaur’s in-laws about the demise of her daughter. Nirmal Kaur immediately travelled to India and lodged a complaint with Sultanpur Lodhi police on January 25.

Nirmal Kaur said that her daughter was continuously subjected to torture by her husband after she refused to transfer all her property in his name for immigration purposes. "My daughter was called to India based on a lie about a wedding. It was a plan to kill her," she alleged.

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Nirmal also claimed that Rajdeep’s in-laws first cited a heart attack as cause of her death but later another relative claimed she died of toxic gas from a room heater.

She alleged that the arrested duo was also opposing conducting the post-mortem and called for performing last rites without proper medical investigation.

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“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.

According to police, the post-mortem report revealed that Rajdeep Kaur 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.

(With inputs from agencies)