Australian police had released his images as he was on way to board a flight to India on October 23, 2018, leaving behind his wife and three children.
Kulwinder Sandhu
Moga, November 25
The Australian Police on Friday tweeted that a Punjabi suspect allegedly accused of murdering 24-year-old Toyah Cordingley on a beach in Queensland in 2018 has been arrested.
The Queensland Police have said that Rajwinder Singh was arrested in Delhi and could face an extradition court hearing soon. He was produced in a Delhi court on Friday, which sent him to five-day judicial custody. Singh was sent to jail till November 30 after he was produced before the court.
The Australian Police on November 3 had announced a record 1 million dollar (Rs 5.31 crore) reward for information leading to the suspect, Rajwinder Singh (38), who worked as a nurse in Innisfail. He reportedly fled to India after allegedly murdering Toyah Cordingley.
The police had released his images as he was on way to board a flight to India on October 23, 2018, leaving behind his wife and three children. His brother had earlier admitted that Rajwinder landed at Amritsar airport and was in mental distress over work-related issues. Little was known about him since.
He moved to Queensland with his family over two decades ago. He may have allegedly used a fake address to obtain a passport and a visa.
Rajwinder was working as a geriatric nurse for several years. He was married and had three children, all living in Innisfail town. His father Amar Singh and brother-in-law Harpreet Singh also live there. The entire family has moved to Australia.
Family members of Rajwinder Singh, who lived in Innisfail, reported that he had left the town on October 21, 2018 (the date of Toyah's murder).
Earlier that day, he had visited Cairns, before frantically returning and purchasing a plane ticket. He flew to Sydney that evening (October 21, 2018), spending the next several hours with his sister there, before getting on a flight to Amritsar.
He left behind his wife, children (one of which was a newborn at that time), and other family members while fleeing Australia. He reportedly did not contact them in the past four years. Also, he did not use any of his debit or credit cards.
Rajwinder Singh was not the only one singled out as a suspect. The Queensland Police had previously said that there were "several persons of interest" actively investigated and that they had not narrowed in on any one individual.
Since, Rajwinder's location was found near the murder site, the police had enough circumstantial and documentary evidences to accuse him as the prime suspect, which forced the Australian government to seek help from Indian authorities to look for him, apart from announcing a huge reward of 10,00,000 Australian dollars (Rs 5.31 crore) for anyone who helped in arresting him.
The Indian government had a few months back approved the formal extradition of Rajwinder Singh.
The local police and intelligence sleuths in Moga had previously conducted a door-to-door verification of the residents in Buttar Kalan village but Rajwinder's antecedents could not be located to this village. The SSP of Moga, Gulneet Singh Khurana, said that he actually belongs to Buttar Kalan village in Amritsar district.
Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said the day was "a long time coming", while federal Attorney-General said Singh's extradition was a "high priority" for the government.
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