Husband arrested over NRI wife's murder in Punjab

Hoshiarpur (Punjab), March 7 : The Punjab Police Saturday claimed to have solved the murder of an NRI woman with the arrest of her husband and two others.

Kuldeep Kaur, 32, a resident of Vancouver, was shot Thursday in Punjab's Hoshiarpur district, just a day before she was to fly back to Canada. She had arrived in India with her husband Manjit Singh in January.

She was on her way to the gurudwara in Lehli village near Mahilpur town, 20 km from here, when she was shot by two motorcycle-borne men from close range. Kaur died on the spot.

Apart from Manjit Singh, the others who have been arrested are his brother Charanjit Singh, who is described as a local Akali Dal leader, and Satinder Singh, an unemployed youth, police said.

"One more accused Iqbal Singh, who was driving the motorcycle, is still at large," Hoshiarpur police chief Parmod Ban told reporters here Saturday.

"Manjit Singh had illicit relations with another woman, Rani, in Vancouver who is expecting his child. He wanted to marry Rani that is why he wanted to kill his wife," Ban added.

The victim was also insured for Canadian USD 400,000 and Manjit "also wanted to grab this money in connivance with his brother", Ban said.