71-year-old US citizen who came to India to marry NRI man, 75, killed: Punjab Police

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A 71-year-old woman, a US citizen of Indian origin, was allegedly killed in Ludhiana, Punjab, after she arrived in India from Seattle to marry 75-year-old Charanjit Singh Grewal, a UK-based non-resident Indian (NRI), news agency PTI reported, citing police.

The incident took place in July, but details recently came to light after local police named suspects in an FIR that was lodged over the woman's disappearance.

According to police, the woman, Rupinder Kaur Pandher, had travelled to India at the invitation of Charanjit Singh Grewal, an England-based NRI originally from Ludhiana, who was to be her bridegroom.

According to police, it was Grewal who orchestrated her murder. Police said Pandher's sister, Kamal Kaur Khairah, grew suspicious when she found her mobile phone switched off on July 24.

By July 28, Khairah had alerted the US embassy in New Delhi, which in turn pressed the local police to take up the matter. It was only last week that the Khairah family received the news of her death.

The police nabbed, the main accused, Sukhjeet Singh Sonu of Malha Patti, who confessed to killing Pandher at his home and burning the body in a storeroom on July 12 at Charanjit's behest.

According to the police, Grewal promised Sonu Rs 50 lakh for killing Pandher. The motive, officers said, was financial -- Pandher had transferred a significant amount of money to Grewal prior to her visit.

Deputy Inspector General (Ludhiana Police Range) Satinder Singh confirmed that Grewal, who is absconding, has been named as a suspect in the case. Police were quoted by PTI as saying that efforts are on to find the victim's skeletal remains and other evidence based on Sonu's disclosure.