Patiala, September 8
Seventy-year-old Deepinder Kaur, wife of NRI Harnek Singh, was found murdered in the worship room of her house this morning. Her five-year-old grandson Harprabh is suspected to have been kidnapped by her killers.
Her daughter-in-law Sukhbir Kaur, who is a nurse with the local Government Rajindra Hospital, noticed the body when she returned from duty.
Sukhbir’s husband had died in an accident about three years ago. Since then she had been living in house No. 20 in the Desi Mehmandari locality with her mother and two children, Harprabh and 13-year-old daughter, who studies in a boarding school at Kasauli.
Harnek, his another son Bhupinder Singh and daughter live in the USA.
Deepinder was stabbed with a kirpan kept in the room along with Guru Granth Sahib. There were no signs of forced entry into the house. The killers seemed to have entered into the house from the main door. They took away Harprabh, whom the police suspects to be an eyewitness to the crime.
The killers did not take any valuables from the house.
Sources said an attempt was made to kill Deepinder about three months ago too. At that time, the killers had allegedly strangulated her and left the spot presuming her to be dead. However, she regained consciousness later.
Relatives and neighbours of the family told The Tribune that they did not have any information about enmity the old woman might be having with anybody.
Patiala SSP S.K. Asthana said the police had collected some clues regarding the crime. However, nothing concrete could be stated at this stage. The police did not have any clue to the missing child.
A case under Section 302 of the IPC has been registered.
