Husband held in Amritsar for murder of woman who ‘defiled gurdwara’

Following Kaur’s murder in the early hours of September 10, Labh Singh had told the police that he was awakened by screams of his granddaughter and found three unidentified assailants attacking his wife around midnight.

Kaur had earlier been booked for desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib at Veroke Gurudwara on November 10, 2015. She had allegedly entered the gurdwara with her footwear on, and climbed the takht on which the holy book is kept. She was caught and handed over to the police.

Following her murder, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was set up, given the sensitive nature of the case as it involved desecration. On Wednesday, the SIT put Labh Singh under rigorous interrogation. SSP (Amritsar Rural ) H P S Khakh said Singh confessed that he had killed his wife, as he was angry over the desecration incident.

He reportedly told the police the incident had humiliated him and his family. On the day of the murder, he told police, he was drunk and they were fighting once again about the incident. He took a sharp knife and slashed her legs with it because, according to him, she had told him she would defile the gurudwara again.

Police said she died of excessive bleeding.

They said he tutored his granddaughter to say that three masked men had entered the house and killed Balwinder.

Police said they have recovered the weapon from the village pond.

In statement issued today, SSP Khakh said the police initially suspected the murder was the work of “hardliners” in reaction to the act of desecration. But Labh Singh’s contradictory statements — that he was asleep, that he was too scared to go to his wife’s rescue, and also that he had gone to the terrace to escape the attackers — made the SIT narrow down on him after eliminating other possibilities. .