Punjab influencer burnt alive: Month on, Chandigarh Police groping in dark

Police have been conducting raids in Moga district and are also searching for Rinku’s father, who works as an agriculturalist

Even as it has been over a month since Punjabi influencer Manjeet Kaur died after she was abducted and burnt alive, police have yet to make any headway in arresting the main accused, Rinku, who was allegedly known to the victim and had called her to Chandigarh’s Sector 34 on July 3 before allegedly abducting her.

Influencer Manjeet Kaur (HT)

While police had arrested Rinku’s friend Parminder Singh, alias Pinda, of Kapurthala on September 9, Rinku has been evading arrest. Police have been conducting raids in Moga district and are also searching for Rinku’s father, who works as an agriculturalist there. They have set up wiretaps on Rinku’s mobile phone as well but he hasn’t use the device since.

Meanwhile, officials privy to the probe said they had received some new leads and were examining them to catch the accused. Police are also working on the theory that the influencer was set on fire in the forest area of Sector 34 itself.

A Central Forensic science Laboratory (CFSL) team had been asked to collect samples and police are currently looking for witnesses.

Manjeet Kaur, 28, was allegedly abducted from Chandigarh and set on fire in Morinda. Following a complaint by the victim’s mother, the Chandigarh Police had registered a case of kidnapping and murder against two suspects, Pinda and another accused Shubhi.

However, police are also checking whether the accused Shubhi was present during the incident as Pinda’s disclosure statement had allegedly ruled out his presence at the time of the crime.

According to the complaint filed by her mother, Kanta Devi, two acquaintances—identified as Shubhi and Pinda—called Manjeet late on the night of July 3 to meet near a liquor shop in Sector 34. Upon her arrival, the suspects forcibly pushed her into a car and drove her to Morinda. There, she was physically assaulted, tied to a mulberry tree, and set on fire.

An acquaintance who spotted her engulfed in flames doused the fire using a blanket and rushed her to a local hospital in Morinda. Due to her critical condition, she was moved to a hospital in Mohali before being referred to PGIMER, Chandigarh, on July 9.

Manjeet remained unconscious at PGIMER for several weeks before briefly regaining consciousness on August 5, at which point she recounted the entire ordeal to her family. Despite medical efforts, her condition deteriorated, and she succumbed to her severe burn injuries on August 26.

Following her death, the Sector 34 police station had registered an FIR under Sections 140(1) (kidnapping), 103(1) (murder), and 3(5) (joint criminal liability) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Kaur was seven weeks pregnant at the time of her death. Kaur, a divorcee, had a seven-year-old son who lived with her former husband, according to police