Son's brother-in-law held for couple's murder in Ludhiana

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Ludhiana, May 6

Within 48 hours of the double murder of a sexagenarian couple here, the police today claimed to have cracked the case with the arrest of their son’s brother-in-law Charanjit Singh Jagdev, a British citizen.

Wedding album gave him away

• Cops got a breakthrough after they found Charanjit’s photos in his sister’s album at the victims’ house. His face resembled with that of suspect in CCTV footage
• A day after the double murder, the accused along with his wife visited the courts complex for some work. His wife was not aware of his role in the crime
• The accused had earlier booked his air ticket for June but had advanced it to May 16 and spent the night at his in-laws’ house at Gill village, said the CP

Failed in First attempt on May 4

Accused visited victims’ locality on Wednesday afternoon but returned after failing to find their car at home. He went again in the evening and murdered them. — Dr Kaustubh Sharma, Police Commissioner

Income tax officer Sukhdev Singh Lote (66) and his wife Gurmeet Kaur (64) were hacked to death in city’s posh BRS Nagar locality on Wednesday evening.

Addressing mediapersons, Police Commissioner Dr Kaustubh Sharma said Charanjit’s sister, Sanpreet, had married the couple’s son, Jagmohan, in 2017. After the marriage, the two moved to England. Charanjit was also born and brought up there.

“Charanjit claimed his sister had differences with her husband due to interference of her in-laws (Sukhdev and Gurmeet). He also suspected her in-laws were not allowing his sister to meet her parents,” said Sharma.

In January, the accused along with his wife had come to India and had been living with his in-laws at Gill village. Recently, when the accused came to know his sister’s in-laws were planning to move to England to live with their son, he decided to eliminate them as he believed they were the root cause of his sister’s unhappy married life, claimed the officer.

Charanjit recently bought gloves and a knife. On Wednesday afternoon, the accused went to BRS Nagar and parked his car around 2 km from the victims’ house. As he couldn’t spot Sukhdev’s car there, he returned home.

Around 8.40 pm, he again went back and knocked at their door. Sukhdev received him, claimed the CP, adding the accused threatened the elderly couple with dire consequences if they didn’t stop interfering in his sister’s life.

“Heated arguments ensued and the accused in a fit of rage slit Sukhdev’s throat with a knife. As Gurmeet intervened, he stabbed her as well. The couple were stabbed repeatedly to ensure they were dead,” claimed CP Sharma.

The accused spent the night at his in-laws’ house at Gill village. On receiving the news of the couple’s death, Charanjit’s in-laws visited the victims’ house but he didn’t accompany them.The CP said accused had earlier booked his air ticket for June but had preponed it to May 16. The accused had done BSc from Guildhall London University.