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‘Murder, wrote the NRI, but it’s
the community that
is paying for it’
WSN Network
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This is a letter we received from
a concerned reader in response to a report in the WSN’s last
edition. We reproduce the letter here in a slightly edited
version. —Ed. |
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I am writing
this after reading the distrubing report “Murder, wrote the NRI, and
paid for it” in the WSN edition of February 27-March 4, 2008 that I
picked up during a business tour of California. Jassi Kaur Sidhu of
the wealthy Canadian family falling in love with an auto driver was
found in a ditch with her throat slit. The contract killing had been
directed from Canada. Her mother and uncle in Canada are still at
large though they have been declared proclaimed offenders. Last
week, the Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld the conviction and
sentence of life imprisonment for four accused in the case,
including Jassi’s maternal uncle in
Punjab.
Similarly, Mohan Singh, a Leicester-based textile factory owner, was
shot dead at a dhaba near Phillaur in August 2006, allegedly at the
behest of his brother Sukhjivan Singh and daughter-in-law Inderjit
Kaur. In November 2005,
Vancouver
businessman Bachan Singh Kingra was hacked to death by two hired
assassins.
 The killers were
allegedly hired by his oldest daughter, Balwinder Kaur, who was
irked by her 64-year-old father’s plan to get a new bride and have a
son who would inherit the family property. In July 2007, Moga police
arrested Calgary resident Jagtar Singh Mallhi, 32, who had
orchestrated a fake car crash with the help of hired killers to
murder his wife. He was allegedly upset that his wife would not
consent to his illiterate cousin getting married to her
universityeducated sister. SGPC member Kuldeep Singh from Mukerian
was shot on October 20, 2005 following a property dispute with
US-based NRI Gurdev Singh. Police said the contract killer was paid
Rs 12 lakh.
In December
2007,
Ludhiana
police arrested a gang of four contract killers who were planning to
kill a man at the behest of his Canadian son-in-law. The NRI family
was demanding Rs 30-lakh dowry for taking the bride to
Canada
which the girl’s family did not pay. All of these are very very
disturbing cases. It is good that the WSN has brought up this shady
aspect of the NRIs trying to settle scores in a misconceived sense
of honour of the family or quick justice for perceived hurt, but
what name will this all give to the community. Many of these people
involved are our Singhs and Kaurs. What a shame they are to our
great religion! The entire nonresident Punjabi diaspora must open up
on this issue and discuss it in drawing rooms, at gurdwaras and
among families to create a movement against this killer practice.
Can I add one
more request? Is it possible to make available WSN at gurdwaras on
East Coast also?
N S Rana
Shergill
Queens, NY
5
March 2008
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