Hearing of murder trial adjourned on defence lawyer’s request

Canadian woman’s father had reported her missing

LAHORE: The hearing of a Canadian citizen Rajwindar Kaur Gill’s murder trial was adjourned for a day on Tuesday after the counsel for the accused sought a day to cross-examine the complainant, Sardar Sikandar Gill.

Earlier, Sikandar Gill, father of the deceased, submitted that his daughter had been killed during a visit to Pakistan in 2012.

He said before leaving home she had told the family that she was going to visit the home of a man who was like a brother to her. He said she had last contacted the family on reaching Pakistan on August 25, 2012.

Gill said that a few days later when they had contacted the airline by which she had travelled to Pakistan they were told that she had not boarded any flight out of Pakistan.

Then, he said, the family had come to Pakistan and submitted an application with the police seeking a kidnapping case against two people identified as Shahid alias Krishna Rai (a dual national) and Shahzad.

He said a few days after the registration of the case the police had recovered her laptop, cell phone and some other belongings. Later, the family left Pakistan for Canada, he said.

Earlier, Additional District and Sessions Judge Naeem Abbas asked the two counsel to conclude the cross examination of the complainant on Tuesday. However, the counsel for the accused, Shahzad, insisted that he should be given a day to do that as Gill had finished recording his statement by the time he arrived at the court. The court then requested the complainant to extend his stay in the country for another day.

At an earlier hearing, Shahzad had confessed to his involvement in the murder. He had said that Shahid had offered to pay him Rs50,000 in return for his help in killing Rajwindar Kaur. He said that after receiving her at the airport at 2am in the morning they had taken Kaur to a restaurant in Mozang where they had served her a drugged beverage. He said when she had fallen unconscious they had strangled her to death. Later, they had dumped the body in a canal in Sheikhpura. He said three days after the incident Shahid had left Pakistan for Germany.

Shahid has been declared a proclaimed offender.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2016.