‘Beaten to death with baseball bat’: Inside the grisly murder of 71-year-old NRI Rupinder Kaur in Ludhiana

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A 71-year-old US citizen of Indian origin was brutally murdered in Ludhiana after being lured to India by a UK-based Non-Resident Indian (NRI) man who had promised to marry her, police said on Friday.

The victim, Rupinder Kaur Pandher, had travelled from Seattle to India in July to meet Charanjit Singh Grewal, an England-based NRI originally from Ludhiana, with whom she had connected via a matrimonial website. However, Grewal later refused to marry her and allegedly hired an accomplice to eliminate her.

Police have arrested Sukhjeet Singh, a court typist in Ludhiana and a resident of Kila Raipur, for Pandher’s murder. Singh reportedly confessed to killing her with a baseball bat, burning the body with coal, and dumping the remains in a drain.

The murder came to light after Pandher’s sister, Kamal Kaur Khairah, alerted the US Embassy in Delhi upon finding her phone switched off on July 24. The embassy pressured local police to investigate, leading to the unearthing of the gruesome crime.

According to police, Grewal promised Singh Rs 50 lakh and help in moving abroad in exchange for committing the murder. Pandher had transferred her power of attorney to Singh and was staying at his home.

Singh initially filed a false missing person’s FIR, claiming Pandher had left for Canada. However, police recovered skeletal remains, her burnt mobile phone, and the hammer used to destroy evidence.

Singh has been arrested, and Grewal, currently abroad has been booked. Further investigation is ongoing.