Murdered UK hotelier’s mom questions Badal’s silence

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 24

Eighty-three-year-old Gurjit Kaur, mother of the British-Indian hotelier Ranjit Singh Power who was allegedly murdered by his UK-based friend Baldev Singh Deol in May, has questioned the silence of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

Gurjit Kaur, along with her son Amrik Singh Power, has come all the way from the UK — on the request of the Jalandhar police — to give a DNA sample for the identification of body that has been found.

“Where is CM Badal who claims to be the saviour of Non-Resident Indians (NRI)? Six months have passed since my son was murdered by Baldev. But Baldev hasn’t been extradited yet. Why Badal has not intervened to expedite the extradition,” asked Gurjit. Months have passed, but the body sent to the UK is still in the possession of the police there.

Ranjit’s brother Amrik said, “We suspect that Angela Bir, Ranjit’s girlfriend and business and hotel partner, must have connived with other business associates and accused Baldev to kill Ranjit.”

Amrik said that Angela and Ranjit owned a four-star Ramada Park Hall Hotel in Wolverhampton and dozens of properties in the UK and Dubai. Now, the hotel and a million-dollar house are in Angela’s possession.

”Angela has usurped everything, leaving not even a single penny to Ranjit’s wife and children Gian and Emma,” he said.

As there has been no official identification of the body, no death certificate has been issued. But Angela held a charity function in which she claimed to have donated all business shares of Ranjit to Ranjit Singh Power (RSP) Charity Foundation.

“As the foundation is owned by Angela, the transfer of Ranjit’s shares is intended to capture his wealth,” Amrik said.

Ranjit’s family members said they had apprised the UK police and Punjab Police about their suspicions on Ranjit’s business partners, including Angela.

“Angela claims Ranjit was her soul mate. But instead of hiring a lawyer to get justice for him, she had hired bodyguards for her security in the UK. A week before Ranjit left for India, he and Angela had a heated argument. Angela and Baldev have been meeting regularly in the UK after Ranjit’s disappearance,” Amrik alleged.

Ranjit had been received at the Amritsar airport by Baldev on May 8. On the way home, Baldev, along with his driver Sukhdev, allegedly strangulated him and threw the body in the Bhakra canal near Anandpur Sahib.

On May 15, Baldev flew back to the UK. On May 18, a kidnapping case was registered against accused Baldev by the Jalandhar police.

The NRI’s body was found from near a dam situated on Pehewa-Ambala road, 20 km from Ambala city on June 1.