Patiala man held for his fiancée’s murder turns out to be ‘serial killer’

A day after his fiancee’s body was recovered, police said the suspect also murdered his first wife last month; police also probing his possible link with a case of purported suicide involving a woman living near his house in Patiala

A 40-year-old man from Patiala city’s Urban Estate Colony, who buried his fiancée in his house after allegedly killing her recently, has turned out to be a serial killer as he also confessed to have murdered his first wife last month, police claimed.

The ’serial killer’, Navninder Preet Singh of Patiala city’s Urban Estate Colony, in police custody for the murder of his fiancee whose body was found buried at his house. He has also confessed to have killed his wife last month.

The investigators are also probing a possible link of the suspect with a 2014 case of purported suicide wherein a woman residing opposite his house had allegedly set herself ablaze, officials familiar with the matter said.

The accused, Navninder Preet Singh who is in police custody following his arrest on Thursday, was in a relationship with at least three women, they said.

The matter came to light during investigation into the murder of Chapinderpal Kaur (28) of Bathinda who was asphyxiated to death on October 14. Chapinderpal was to marry Navninder on Wednesday (October 20) but he allegedly killed her and buried her body in his bedroom after she discovered that he was already married to another woman.

Patiala senior superintendent of police (SSP) Harcharan Singh Bhullar said Navninder married Sukhdeep Kaur (39) of Sangrur in February 2018 and started staying with her in a rented accommodation. “The two started quarrelling after Sukhdeep in September came to know about his marriage with one Lakhwinder Kaur of Sangrur’s Bhawanigarh. Lakhwinder, who married the accused in October 2018, has been living near his residence,” the SSP said.

Sukhdeep was expecting her first child, he added.

“The accused hatched a conspiracy to eliminate Sukhdeep. On September 20, he brought home a nitrogen cylinder and told her that it contained oxygen inhaling which would help the foetus grow. She died as soon as she inhaled the gas,” Bhullar said.

The accused, the SSP said, took Sukhdeep’s parents into confidence saying she died of cardiac arrest. “Believing Navninder’s claim, the family performed her last rites,” he said.

Patiala crime investigation agency (CIA) incharge Shaminder Singh said that in the meantime Navninder got engaged to Chapinderpal. “She (Chapinderpal) didn’t know anything about his marriage to Sukhdeep but she discovered that he had tied the knot with Lakhwinder. On this, he planned to kill Chapinderpal and called her for wedding shopping on October 11. Three days later (October 14), he also asked her to inhale the poisonous gas from the cylinder saying it would make her face glow,” the CIA incharge said.

The accused had already dug a four-foot deep pit in his bedroom and buried her body in it, he said. “He covered the pit with tiles and placed a couch on it,” he added.

“The suspect has been residing with his elderly parents, aged 80 and 75. His father retired as a colonel from the army. Navninder is law graduate and a postgraduate in sociology and was taking online classes with a US-based institute. We are also probing whether his parents and second wife Lakhwinder had any knowledge of his crimes,” the SSP said.

A case under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered in this connection.