Mother, stepfather murdered 9-year-old Ludhiana girl for insurance money

The Ludhiana-based couple had bought a plot for ₹3 lakh in 2019 and were paying for it in instalments, they had already paid ₹1.49 lakh to the bank, but were struggling to pay the remainder

A day after a nine-year-old girl was strangulated to death by her mother and stepfather at a cattle-feed factory in Humbran, police on Tuesday said the couple had committed the murder for an insurance payout.

.A team of experts at the Ludhiana civil hospital declared that the girl had been strangulated to death. (Getty Images/Representative Photo)

The couple — Pinki, 27, and her new husband, Narinderpal, 31 — had bought a ₹2.5 lakh insurance policy for their daughter, Bharti in 2018.

Assistant sub-inspector Harpal Singh said,“The couple had bought a plot for ₹3 lakh in 2019 and were paying for it in instalments. They had already paid ₹1.49 lakh to the bank, but were struggling to pay the remainder. Thus, they came up with the plan to kill Bharti and use the insurance money to settle their dues.”

The accused lived in the quarters of the cattle-feed factory, where Narinderpal was employed, with Bharti and their six-year-old son. Neighbours said Narinderpal did not like Bharti, who was Pinki’s daughter by her first husband, and would often beat her up.

“On the intervening night of June 19 and 20, Narinderpal was on night duty. He returned home around 2.30am and strangulated his sleeping stepdaughter, while Pinki gagged her with a dupatta. After committing the murder, Narinderpal went back to work. The couple rushed the nine-year-old to a private hospital when the night shift ended, claiming that they had found the girl lying unconscious in the morning. Doctors declared the girl brought dead,” the ASI said.

Police sent the body to the civil hospital for post-mortem. A team of experts declared that the girl had been strangulated to death. The victim’s parents have confessed to the murder.

“The accused wanted to get rid of the girl. Earlier, Pinki had approached her brother and other relatives asking them to adopt Bharti, but no one wanted to adopt a girl,” the ASI said.

Pinki had left her first husband in 2013 when Bharti was eight months old. She had met Narinderpal of Mallpura village of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar in 2014.

The court has sent the duo to a three-day police remand.