Members of the Indian Punjabi community in Australia will gather over the weekend for prayer meetings to remember the Gold Coast nurse who was allegedly murdered last week while she was visiting her parents in India.
29-year-old Ravneet Kaur was four months pregnant when she was allegedly kidnapped on 14th March from outside her parents’ home in Bagge Ke Pippal village in Ferozepur while on a video call with her husband Jaspreet Singh. Her dead body was found in a canal on Monday.
Indian police have arrested an Indian woman over Ms Kaur’s disappearance. The police have further accused Ms Kaur’s husband, Jaspreet Singh and a Gold Coast woman, as being involved in an alleged conspiracy to murder Ms Kaur and will be subject to investigation.
The Indian authorities said they would seek Mr Singh’s extradition and the process would begin soon.
Mr Singh denied the allegations that he was involved.
"I don't know what the basis of all these allegations is," he told SBS Punjabi.
“I can’t say anything. I will have to go to India and find out what happened. I have no role in this whatsoever,” he said.
After the news of her death broke, members of the Indian community in Australia expressed their grief and anger, with social media messages pouring in and many calling for justice for Ms Kaur.
Jugandeep Singh, a Sydney resident has been in close contact with Ms Kaur’s parents in India during the past few days. He says while the family is grieving and seeks justice for their daughter, the Punjabi community across Australia has expressed their solidarity with them.
“People from various cities in Australia are voicing their support for the family, calling for action. This is the first time after Manmeet Alisher case that the community is calling for action in unison,” he said.
Ravneet was strangulated
A police investigator told SBS Punjabi that after she was kidnapped in a car, Ravneet Kaur was first sedated and then strangled before her body was dumped in a canal nearly 200 kilometers away.
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On Monday, a board of doctors conducted a post mortem examination on her body and the final report may take weeks before the cause of death would be known.
“The arrested woman has told us that the victim was strangled and when they believed she was dead, they kept driving through villages until it was dark and dumped the body in a canal near Samana [in Patiala district],” Inspector Mohit Dhawan said.
“However, to prepare evidence, we need to know the exact cause of death and that will be confirmed only once we have the report.”
Ms Kaur’s last rites were performed in her parental village in India on Tuesday.
Her dead body was pulled from a canal on Monday, 11 days after she went missing. Her parents alleged that despite their repeated pleas to Mr Singh to come to India and help find their daughter, he didn’t agree to travel to India.
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au
