A 67-year-old Indian-origin man in Canada has confessed his role in covering up the 2009 murder of his pregnant daughter-in-law, Toronto Star reports.
He confessed to helping his daughter, Mandeep Punia, who has been found guilty of murdering his 27-year-old daughter-in-law, to get rid of the body.
Kulwant Litt, resident of Brampton, Ontario admitted that he helped dispose off his pregnant daughter-in-law, Poonam Litt's body.
He also confessed to lying repeatedly to police and court. Charges of accessory after the fact to murder and perjury were dropped.
On February 4th, 2009, Mandeep Punia got into an argument with her pregnant 27-year-old sister-in-law and in rage, stabbed her in the neck with a box cutter. Poonam was holding her two-year-old daughter when she was stabbed.
Poonam was holding her two-year-old daughter when she was stabbed by her sister-in-law. Source: Toronto Star
Punia watched her sister-in-law bleed out on the floor, a Judge said when sentencing Punia to 12 years in prison in August.
Punia’s husband Skinder was found guilty of accessory after the fact to manslaughter by the jury. He has been sentenced to 7 years in prison.
Now Punia’s father has confessed to his role. Mr Litt admitted before the court that he was home during the time of argument. When the fight between two woman broke out in the family kitchen, he went upstairs to fetch Punia’s husband to intervene.
But when he returned, he saw Poonam bleeding on the floor.
Punia told her father that Poonam had stabbed herself, but Poonam indicated to him that she’d been stabbed by Punia.
Litt asked for an ambulance to be called but the couple told him they would take care of it. Litt, then took his granddaughter from her mother’s arms and went upstairs.
He changed the girl’s bloodstained clothes and hid them in the basement ceiling.
When he went back downstairs, Poonam was dead.
Mandeep and Skinder Punia were cleaning up blood in the kitchen and they later wrapped Poonam’s body in a mattress cover and threw it over a fence into a wooded area.
When this happened, Poonam’s husband Manjinder and mother-in-law were in India. Upon his return, Manjinder was told that Poonam had left the house for work and simply disappeared leaving the daughter behind.
Relative taped this conversation and informed Poonam’s husband Manjinder who went to the police. Source: Toronto Star
Poonam’s sisters reported her missing the next day when she failed to show up at work.
The Peel Regional Police commenced an extensive investigation and public appeal.
The newspaper reported that Police finally got a breakthrough in the case after a relative tipped off Poonam’s husband. Kulwant Litt had admitted to a relative that he believed that his daughter had killed his daughter-in-law. Relative taped this conversation and informed Poonam’s husband Manjinder who went to the police.
A sentencing hearing for Kulwant Litt, who has been in custody since April 2012, is set for later this month, the Toronto star reported.
Litt is likely be deported from Canada as a result of his conviction.
