LAHORE:
A Canadian Sikh businesswoman was murdered on the day she arrived in Pakistan by a German national of Pakistani origin who owed her money and an accomplice, according to police interrogations of one of the alleged killers.
Rajvindar Kaur Gill, 41, has been missing since August 25, the day she landed at the Allama Iqbal International Airport.
Police officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media, told The Express Tribune that they had arrested Shehzad, a peon at Said Mitha Hospital, and he had confessed to Gill’s murder.
Shehzad told the police that he had been enlisted in a plot to kill the Sikh businesswoman by a relative named Shahid, a German national of Pakistani origin, who had invited her to Pakistan for a diamond auction in Lahore. Shahid and Gill had known each other for a long time and he had told her he would pay her back the money he owed her when she came to Lahore, the police officials said. Shahid had told Gill that he was a Hindu, though he was a Muslim, they added.
Shahid and Shehzad received Gill at the airport and drove her to Sheikhupura on the Motorway shortly after, they said. They gave her tea spiked with sedatives to make her lose consciousness, strangled her with a rope and dumped her body in the Khanpur Canal off the Lahore-Sheikhupura Road, according to Shehzad’s statement.
The investigators believe that Shahid is still in Pakistan. They are trying to locate him with the help of information gleaned from Shehzad.
Court hearing
The capital city police officer has been summoned to appear before the Lahore High Court today (Wednesday) to give a briefing on the status of the investigation, which has only recently picked up pace after months of lobbying by her father, Sikandar Singh Gill.
Gill moved the Lahore High Court on December 28 through Advocate Aftab Ahmad Bajwa seeking his daughter’s recovery. He had earlier approached the Canadian embassy, which wrote a letter to the interior ministry seeking updates on the investigation. Sources in the ministry said that no response had been sent to the letter. He also contacted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who in turn contacted Interpol, which wrote a separate letter to the government here. He also sent a letter to Sukhbir Singh Badal, the deputy chief minister of Indian Punjab, who passed on his plea to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif during a trip to Lahore for the Asian Kabaddi Tournament.
Bajwa said that he would present more details about the missing businesswoman, including her personal diary and other material, to the court of Justice Sardar Tariq Masood at Wednesday’s hearing.
Sources in the Canadian High Commission in Islamabad said that the high commissioner would attend the hearing as well.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 2nd, 2013.
COMMENTS (10)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
'Shahid had told Gill that he was a Hindu, though he was a Muslim, they (police) added.'
It appears to be difficult to con people with a Muslim identity. How bad it can become before it get worse.
This is an unfortunate event and the realty is that most pakistanis like the rest of the world condemn the killing of any human being regRdless of faith or gender. All societies have a fair shRe of criminals that need to be and are dealt with by law enforcement according to their resources and capability. I can quote yu numerous examples of lawlessness in advanced countries as well. So maria and ss or xxxxx, please refrain from bashing pakistanis and enlighten yourself about the rest of the world as your knowledge seems limited and thought process biased. May her soul rest in peace and the criminals be brought to justice... Ameen!!
@Super sequel: its interesting to speculate on why the killer lured the woman to Pakistan. Why couldn't he have killed her in Canada? My hypothesis is that he thought he can get away with murder if it happened in Pakistan because its easy to hire killers here and maybe he thought that the lady being a nonmuslim may go against her in the courts here even if he gets caught. But he didn't factor in the influence of the Canadian government.
@Super sequel:
What is your point, Sir!!!
By comparing similar happenings in India, you are justifying this killing of an innocent in The Land of The Pure?
Really, you are one amazing person.
May Peace be Upon your tortured soul...
Thank you ET for publishing this - should prevent others making similar mistake! @Imran, even when ET had not published this, poor father of the girl was moving from pillar to post, wasn't it? Do you really think Shahid is going to be arrested and actually convicted?
This is "Land of Pure" where life of a non-muslim woman is of no value to a very large section of society with small exceptiosn like ET!
It is sad to read about our folks in such a way. Our police and the governement should definitely trace the murderers and take them to task , which will give a positive image to the world. The question which remains unanswered is that why did a lone woman travel from North Americas to Lahore , to meet an unknown businessman ?
There is more to it than we see.
Fantastic... I mean really. Pakistan is one the freaking most dangerous countries on the planet woman. Do your damned research before heading off... this ain't the Wild Wild West... idiot. And by no means does this mean that what happened is justified. But this country's a lost cause - best to be safe than sorry.
i like the way how foreign commissions follow up their citizen cases - #learn Pakistan #learn!
Well done Tribune by publishing this story. Now Shahid will escape the police now that he knows they are after him. Talk about journalistic ethics!