51 days after man’s cremation, wife booked for murder in Ludhiana

Mother of the victim alleged that she came to know about the illicit relations of the accused while checking the mobile phone of the victim after his cremation on August 14

Nearly two months after a 36-year-old Pakhowal Road man died and was cremated, the Sadar police on Saturday booked his wife for allegedly murdering him.

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In her complaint, Nasib Kaur, a resident of Baru Sahib in Himachal Pradesh and the mother of the victim, Harvinder Pal Singh, alleged that she came to know about the illicit relations of the accused, Pushpinder Kaur, 34, while checking the mobile phone of the victim after his cremation on August 14.

Nasib said Harvinder owned a laboratory testing equipment manufacturing unit in Sherpur and was living with Pushpinder and his son and daughter at Central Town on Pakhowal Road since 2003. Nasib said the relation between the couple was strained for long, and the family was not in talking terms with her (Nasib).

Nasib said on August 14, she had received a phone call from Harvinder’s neighbours informing her about his death. She immediately rushed to Ludhiana and found Pushpinder already prepared for cremating the body.

Nasib alleged she found injury marks on the body, following which the police were called. She said Pushpinder and her relatives created a scene, following which she requested the police to return, after which the body was cremated.

PHONE SHOWED IT ALL

Nasib said she remained at Harvinder’s house till his bhog ceremony. She said she found his mobile phone in which she found some voice recordings allegedly indicating that Harvinder had come to know about Pushpinder’s illicit relation with a man named Jaspreet Singh of Daad village. She also came to know that Harvinder wanted to send Pushpinder and his son Lakshpreet Singh to Canada and the biometric test for the process was due on August 18. Following this, she filed a complaint with the police on September 11.

HOW POLICE JOINED THE DOTS

Sadar station house officer inspector Sukhdev Singh said Pushpinder in her statement claimed that Harvinder came home around 10.45pm on August 13 and slept. The next morning, she found him dead and informed her relatives. She also claimed she did not inform Jaspreet about his death.

“However, we have summoned Jaspreet and his mother Bholi Kaur, who have claimed that Pushpinder had telephoned them and said Harvinder had slipped in the verandah of the house and died,” she said.

The SHO added that the recording system of the CCTV cameras installed in the house was missing nor did the police find the victim’s laptop. “Pushpinder claimed that after Harvinder’s death, his younger brother Surinder Pal Singh had taken the bank records for the firm and the laptop,” the SHO said.

A case was registered against Pushpinder under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Sadar police station. “Pushpinder is the prime suspect. More names could be added to the FIR,” the SHO said.