Shalimar Bagh woman’s death case gets murkier
The family members of the victim have alleged the police are trying to shield the accused, who are rich and politically well connected, reports Vijaita Singh.
delhi Updated: Feb 20, 2008 02:45 IST
A week after a 27-year-old woman was found dead with bullet injuries at Shalimar Bagh in northwest Delhi, her family members have alleged the police are trying to shield the accused, who are rich and politically well connected. The police are yet to hand over the victim, Simrat Kaur’s postmortem report to her family and have not made any arrests so far.
“My sister was murdered. The police said she used her husband’s licensed revolver to kill herself. As far as we know, her husband Gurvinder always carried the pistol with him,” said Simrat’s brother Sumandeep.
On February 13, Simrat was found dead on the terrace of her house in BFH Block in Shalimar Bagh. A bullet had grazed past her son’s stomach, who was also found lying on the terrace. “It’s been a week since we registered a case against her in-laws and husband. The police say they are absconding, but we have seen that all of them are in the house. The family is politically well connected and the police do not want to take any action against them. Soon after Simrat’s death a battery of lawyers had reached the house. If it was a case of suicide why did the family need a cover-up?” questioned Sumandeep.
He added they had come all the way from Barnala in Punjab and have been running from pillar to post to get justice.
Since her marriage on January 19, 2003 to Gurvinder, Simrat was continuously harassed for dowry, he said. “We had given a Lancer car as a wedding gift but they mocked my sister for not giving them a Pajero. Two days before her death, they had beaten her up. When her father-in-law was contesting the elections, they had demanded money from us to fight the elections,” added the brother.
Simrat’s father-in-law Bhajan Singh Walia is a member of the Akali Dal and the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee.
Simrat’s husband Gurvinder Singh is into construction business and was not at home when the incident took place.
“We are not ruling out any foul play in the case. We are yet to receive the postmortem report. We will make arrests only after that,” said a senior police officer.
A case under section 498 A (dowry harassment) and 304 B (dowry death) has been registered at the Shalimar Bagh police station.
