Australian nurse murder twist: Police claim husband of pregnant woman found strangled and dumped in canal in India was having an affair – and wanted to move to Canada with his mistress
- Ravneet Kaur, 29, from the Gold Coast, was kidnapped in India on March 14
- She had been on video call with her husband outside her parents’ home
- Police in India confirmed on Tuesday that her body had been found in a canal
- Kaur, a registered nurse at Tricare, was four months pregnant expecting a son
The husband of a pregnant nurse who was kidnapped and murdered in India is wanted by local police as the prime suspect.
Gold Coast businessman Jaspreet Singh is accused of organising the murder of Australian citizen Ravneet Kaur on 14 March.
Ms Kaur went missing from the village of Bagge Ke Pipal on the Pakistan-India border before her body was found on Monday night in a canal 200km away.
Mr Singh was in Australia at the time but police allege he was having an affair and arranged her murder with his mistress.
Ravneet Kaur (pictured with her husband and their daughter), who lives on the Gold Coast, went missing from the village of Bagge Ke Pipal on the Pakistan-India border on 14 March
Tragic: A pregnant Australian nurse (pictured) who was kidnapped outside her parents’ home in India has been found dead in a canal
A spokesman for the local police told 9News: ‘He had an affair with a woman from the Gold Coast.’
Friends of Mr Singh reportedly believe he could be heading to Canada, where he has dual citizensip, and that he hasn’t been seen at his home for two days.
Mr Singh denied the allegations in an interview with SBS Punjabi.
‘I don’t know what the basis of all these allegations is,’ he said.
‘I can’t say anything. I will have to go to India and find out what happened. I have no role in this whatsoever.’
The detective running the case, Mohit Dhawan, told the publication: ‘We have nominated her husband in the FIR (First Information Report) for conspiracy and murder.’
Ravneet Kaur went missing from the village of Bagge Ke Pipal on the Pakistan-India border on 14 March. Her body was found on Monday night in a canal 200km away in Lehragaga
When she was abducted at 11.30am, Ms Kaur was on a video call with her husband who was back in Australia, police said.
Officers have arrested a woman in connection with the crime.
Ms Kaur arrived in India on February 27 to visit her friends and family with her four-year-old daughter.
The Indian-born woman was meant to return on March 22.
Ms Kaur’s devastated father Harvinder Singh told the Hindustan Times that his daughter was strangled – but this has not been confirmed.
Indian authorities are now working with the Australian High Commission in New Dehli, police said.
Ms Kaur (pictured with her husband) arrived in India, where she was born, on February 27 to visit her friends and family with her four-year-old daughter
Mr Singh last week held back tears outside his Gold Coast home as he told 9News: ‘I just want my wife back.’
He said he did not trust Indian authorities to solve the case.
Ms Kaur, a mother-of-one, had been employed at Tricare in the Gold Coast and was described as a devoted worker and mother and was reportedly expecting a son.
Ms Kaur’s colleague of six years, Kerrie Hawker, said she was devastated to hear the news.
‘She had a heart of gold, she wouldn’t hurt anyone. She was so loving and her smile would light up a room. It was the most beautiful smile,’ she told the Gold Coast Bulletin.
A spokesman for the Australian Federal Police told Daily Mail Australia that it is aware of the death of an Australian citizen in India.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Australian High Commission in New Dehli for comment.
Police believe Kaur, 29, was sedated, driven away and killed before her body was dumped