Live-in couple killed child for insurance money

LUDHIANA: A day after a woman and her live-in partner were arrested for killing her nine-year-old daughter, police said the duo committed the murder for insurance money. They tried to make it look like a natural death to get Rs 2.50 lakh claim to repay a loan they took for a plot, but their employer called the police.

Victim Bharti’s mother Pinki, 27, and her live-in partner Narinderpal Singh, 31, were produced before a court that remanded them in three days’ police custody on Tuesday.

Humbran police post in-charge ASI Harpal Singh said, “In 2010, Pinki, who hails from Faridkot, had got married in Moga. She gave birth to Bharti in 2012. Due to her strained relations with her husband, she left his house when Bharti was eight months old and came to Ludhiana. She started working at a cattle feed factory in Humbran and also got accommodation on its premises. There, she met Narinderpal, the factory owner’s driver. Since 2014, they have been living together and also have a six years old son.”

As Narinderpal did not like Bharti, Pinki tried convincing her relatives, including her brother, to adopt her, but nobody agreed. The couple had also sent Bharti to a house to work as a domestic help, but they sent her back after some time, he added.

“In the wee hours of June 20, Narinderpal came back home after his night duty in the factory. Around 2.30am, Pinki gagged Bharti with a dupatta while she was sleeping and Narinderpal strangled her to death. He then went back to duty. When he returned home in the morning, the two took Bharti to a private hospital, where doctors declared her dead,” he said.

The couple told everyone that Bharti had suffered a heart attack. When they were planning to cremate the body, the factory owner called the police. The police sent the body for autopsy and the report confirmed she was murdered by strangulation.