Ludhiana, December 28
Like thousands of NRIs, he too coolly abandoned his bride in 2004 after her family could not pay the dowry of Rs 30 lakh. But when she checkmated him by reaching Canada in August this year and sought her rights, he sent a friend to contract a gang of killers and supervise the murder of her father in Mundiya village, near here.

But for timely police intervention based on the information provided by a dhaba owner, who overheard the plan, Mundiya village resident Harphool Singh, father of the abandoned bride Pawanjot Kaur, would not have been alive today.

Swift police action has led to the arrest of four persons, including the "event manager" Ramandeep Singh, alias Rimpy, of Surrey, Canada, and three members of the Ganganagar- based gang of contract killers. They were Sunil Kumar, alias Moni, Kulwant Singh, alias Kanta, and Jaskaran Singh, alias Jassi. The murder deal was finalised for Rs 1.20 lakh.

A black Scorpio car owned by Ramandeep and used to ferry the killers has been recovered. Two pistols, several cartridges, US $ 10 and Canadian $ 100 have also been recovered. A picture of the wedding carried by Ramandeep to identify Harphool has also been recovered.

Revealing the new dimension given to the abandoned bride phenomenon by this case, SSP R K Jaiswal said it was probably the first case of its kind where an NRI came to supervise the killing by hired killers.

Till now, contract killings involving NRIs were arranged by local relatives with only directions or money coming from the foreign land.

According to the investigation conducted by SI Pawanjit Singh and ASI Davinder Singh, VeerHarinder Singh, a glass trader based in Surrey, husband of Pawanjot Kaur and son of Inderjit Singh Dhaliwal, had planned the killing in Canada over two months ago.

Veerharinder wanted to teach a lesson to his father-in-law Harphool Singh for sending his daughter to Canada without his knowledge and without the money. Pawanjot was living in Edmonton with her grandfather.

He asked his cousin Sukhvir Singh, alias Sukhi, also based in Surrey to find a man for the job. Through his friend Ramandeep, who basically belongs to Ganganagar, Sukhi and Veerharinder sent Rs 60,000 to the contract killers through western money transfer two months ago.

However, when the killers could not carry out the deal, they sent Ramandeep with a return ticket for January 1, 2008, to manage the show.

The killing team including Ramandeep and six others were on way to Munidya village last night when they were intercepted and arrested on the Bhammian-Mundiya link road.

Two alleged killers Mohit Kumar, alias Pandit, and Suresh Kumar, alias Kaali, managed to escape.

tribune