Ludhiana man behind 105 murders held

Mohit Khanna

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 4

At first sight he appears to be a fragile and harmless man. But 40-year-old Baldev Singh, a bicycle mechanic, has  turned out to be India’s most wanted criminal, having allegedly murdered over 100 people over 15 years.

The fact came to light when the city police caught and questioned him yesterday. 

Baldev Singh, who belongs to Ludhiana district, confessed to having committed several murders. During interrogation, the list of murder cases began to swell. The number of murders committed by him along with his accomplice soon reached eight. Police sources said the officials crosschecked Baldev’s picture with the crime record of most wanted criminals in the country and were shocked to learn that he was behind 105 killings.

DCP Naveen Singla said Baldev Singh, alias Harbhajan Singh, along with his accomplice Baljinder Singh had committed at least 105 murders. The two killed their victims by strangulation. 

Both were evading arrest for the past 15 years. “We have sounded an alert in all the states across the country to provide us the list of murder cases,” said the DCP. A hunt was on to nab his accomplice Baljinder Singh, he said.

The DCP said the police came to know through national dailies published in 2004 that Baldev and Baljinder were among country’s most wanted criminals and had committed over 105 murders by strangulation.

To hoodwink the police, Baldev Singh changed his name as Inder Singh and started working at the cycle repair shop at Kot Mangal Singh area in Shimlapuri. He used to live in a one-room quarter near the shop. In 2012 he was nabbed with 1kg opium and spent some time in jail.

The police have prepared a dossier of eight murders committed by Baldev and Baljinder in Agra, Amritsar and Ludhiana from April to July, 2000. The police are collecting details of the rest of the murders. Baldev was presented before the court today and sent to five-day police remand.

The police have listed the following cases: On April 27, 2000, Baldev Singh along with his accomplices took a room on rent near Guru Ka Taj Gurdwara in Agra. On the same night Baldev and his accomplices killed the house owner and his wife and fled with cash and gold ornaments. The next day he along with his accomplices hired a taxi from the Mathura bus stand. On the way, they killed the taxi driver and fled with the vehicle. On the same day (April 28, 2000) they hired another taxi about 30 km from Amria (UP) and killed the driver and fled with the vehicle.

On May 26, 2000, Baldev and Baljinder gagged the employee of a paint store in Civil Lines area in Amritsar and fled with his scooter.

On June 29, 2000, he killed the elderly woman house owner in Kot Mangal Singh area, where he was living as a tenant and decamped with gold ornaments.

On July 13, 2000 the accused along with Baljinder killed Davinder Kaur and her 17- year- old son Perminder Singh, both relatives of Baldev. The two decamped with cash and ornaments.

Baldev told the police they then left the city and went to Mumbai and started working at a bangle manufacturing unit in Goregaon where he planned to kill its owner. Baldev said due to some urgent work he had to came to Punjab for a few days. While heading back to Mumbai he, on the way, purchased a newspaper and was shocked to learn that Baljinder and his accomplices had been arrested for killing the bangle manufacturing unit owner. He immediately returned to Ludhiana and began working at a cycle repair shop by changing his identity. 

After spending years in disguise, Baldev recently visited his house in Jagraon to meet his family. His siblings were at loggerheads over the ancestral property. 

"Baldev is a psychopath serial killer. The modus operandi was simple. While Baldev used to asphyxiate the victim by choking the neck, Baljinder used to hold back the victim’s feet," said Naveen Singla, Ludhiana DCP.