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Ludhiana: 8 months on, FB friend arrested for woman’s murder
Police arrest Vinod Kumar, accused of murdering a woman in Payal. He met the victim online in 2017, assaulted her with an iron rod, and fled to Bangkok.
Eight months after murder the alleged of a 45-year-old woman, the Payal police arrested her aide she met online in 2017. According to the police, the accused had come to see the woman before leaving for Bangkok and had a spat with her. In a fit of rage, the accused assaulted her with an iron rod and fled. To distract the police investigation, he scribed the name of her brother-in-law who has a police record on the wall.
Accused Vinod Kumar, 47, of Kunail village in Hoshiarpur’s Garhshankar, is in the business of tours and travel.Police have also recovered the murder weapon from the house.
Deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Nikhil Garg said that the police had already nominated the accused in the FIR. The accused was declared a proclaimed offender and a look out circular (LOC) was issued against him. As he landed at Kolkata Airport, officials took him into custody and informed the police.
“The accused said that he had come into contact with the woman, Ranjit Kaur of Payal, through Facebook. He used to come to see her often,” said the DSP.
“The accused told police that he wanted to go to Europe. To make a travel history, he had gone to Malaysia and Vietnam from Bangkok, but failed to get a visa for Europe,” he added.
The DSP said that the accused is facing trial in at least 10 cases, including attempt to murder and drug peddling. The police are investigating to find out how he managed to get a visa despite having a criminal history.
The woman was found murdered at her house in Payal on September 5 last year. She was living alone and was to go to Canada in October 2023. Her husband is settled in Italy and one of her sons is in Canada. Her other son is in Portugal. The accused made a WhatsApp call to her Canada-based son from her number and told him that he had murdered his mother and asked them to decide the date of her cremation. On calling back, her son could not get a call through and asked a friend to go and check. The friend found the body..
