The Sangrur police on Thursday arrested a man accused of killing a woman from Sangrur in Canada last year and later travelling to India, where he allegedly threatened her family to compel them to withdraw the murder case filed against him in Canada.
The accused has been identified as Manpreet Singh, a resident of Lakhimpur Khiri in Uttar Pradesh. Police said he allegedly murdered 27-year-old Amanpreet Kaur in Canada on October 20 last year and fled to India soon after the incident. Following his return, he is accused of repeatedly intimidating the victim’s family in the Prem Basti area of Sangrur, Hindustan Times reported.
Senior superintendent of police Sartaj Singh Chahal said the case came to light following a complaint by Inderjit Singh, a resident of Prem Basti, whose daughters Amanpreet Kaur and Gursimran Kaur were living in Canada.
Man ‘Killed’ Punjab Woman Over Marriage Proposal Refusal
Amanpreet was staying in a rented apartment in East York, Toronto, and was employed as a personal support worker at a hospital. According to the complaint, Amanpreet had told her father that Manpreet Singh, whose taxi services she used for commuting to work, had been pressuring her to marry him. She had clearly refused the proposal.
The SSP said that on October 21, Inderjit Singh was unable to contact Amanpreet and asked his elder daughter Gursimran to check on her. When Amanpreet could not be located, Gursimran reported her missing to Canadian police, the HT report said.
Authorities later informed the family that Amanpreet’s body had been recovered near Niagara Falls in Ontario. The Canadian police subsequently identified Manpreet Singh as the suspect and confirmed that he had escaped to India.
Police further stated that after reaching India, Manpreet allegedly contacted Gursimran through WhatsApp and Instagram, threatening to kill her and other family members in Sangrur. He is also accused of entering Inderjit Singh’s house in Sangrur with a sharp-edged weapon during the last week of October and issuing death threats while demanding that the family withdraw the case registered in Canada.
Following these incidents, Inderjit Singh installed CCTV cameras outside his residence. However, the accused allegedly returned to the area on the nights of November 30 and January 10, during which he took selfies and photographs of the installed cameras. These images were later sent to Gursimran to further intimidate the family. He also allegedly threatened to make public objectionable photographs of Amanpreet, the complaint stated.
According to police, Manpreet later created a fake Instagram account to circulate morphed and objectionable images of the victim along with obscene remarks.
On the basis of Inderjit Singh’s statement, a case was registered on January 14 at the Sangrur cyber crime police station under Sections 333 (house-trespass), 351(3) (criminal intimidation) and 79 (insulting the modesty of a woman) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with Sections 67A and 66C of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Manpreet Singh was arrested on January 15, and police said further interrogation is underway.
