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Chandigarh court frames charges against man who confessed to murder on live TV
Maninder Singh, 32, was arrested from a news studio in January last year after he, during a live telecast, confessed to having murdered a woman friend at a hotel in Chandigarh
A Chandigarh district court has framed charges against Maninder Singh, 32, who was arrested from a news studio in January last year after he, during a live telecast, confessed to having murdered a woman friend at a hotel in the Industrial Area, Phase 2.
The court of additional district and sessions judge Narender has framed the charges under Sections 302 (murder), 303 (murder by life-convict), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the Indian Penal Code. The trial will begin on November 18.
According to police, Sarabjit Kaur, 27, a nurse belonging to Sangrur, had checked into a hotel with Maninder on December 30, 2019. She was found murdered in her room on the afternoon of January 1.
On January 14, Maninder, who belongs to Chandigarh and was out on bail after being convicted in another murder case, reached the office of a news channel and confessed to Sarabjit’s murder. He also confessed to the previous crime, wherein he had stabbed another woman friend to death, in Karnal in 2010, even as his review petition was pending in the high court.
Maninder had alleged that he killed Sarabjit as she was having an affair even as the two were planning to get married. According to police, the two had an altercation, following which he first strangled her and then slit her neck with a knife.
After committing the crime, he had been on the move, staying in various places in Punjab. On surfacing at the news channel’s office, he had said that he wanted to surrender as police had allegedly held his parents captive. As soon as they got the information, cops rushed to the channel’s office and arrested Maninder while the programme was still being telecast.
