punjab

Updated: Mar 20, 2017 15:40 IST

Police have arrested a 35-year-old Phase-3B1 resident, Seerat Kaur, for murder after she allegedly shot dead her husband,Ekam Singh Dhillon, 40, a businessman, with a 9mm pistol at their rented first-floor accommodation on Saturday about 11pm. Ekam is the son of human rights activist Jaspal Singh Dhillon. The couple had a strained relationship since their marriage 12 years ago. Ekam was in the business of property dealing.

Seerat is the niece of former Congress MLA from Sardulgarh Ajit Inder Singh Mofer. Mofer contested on a Congress ticket from the seat and lost in the recent assembly elections. Mofer had brought up Seerat after her father died in her childhood.

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The horrific crime came to light on Sunday morning when the accused bundled the body — 6ft 3inch — in a suitcase, carried it to a BMW, intending to dispose it at an isolated spot.

Police, finally, recovered the body outside the couple’s house (number 116, Phase 3B1) in an abandoned suitcase.

Seerat and her family had fled by then, leaving the couple’s 10-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter in the house.

Her mother Jaswinder Kaur and brother Vinay Pratap Brar have also been booked for murder for acting as accomplices.

However, Seerat was arrested from an undisclosed location in SAS Nagar on Sunday late night.

The police found the children inside the house.They were asleep at the time of the incident and also when their father’s body was found.

SPOOKED BY BLOOD

Sources said an auto driver, who remains unidentified, informed the police that he had seen blood oozing out of a suitcase in Phase 3B1.

According to his account, as revealed by the police, he was stopped by a woman outside house number 116 in Phase 3B1 to help her put a suitcase into a BMW.

“The suitcase was unusually heavy and when I attempted to haul it into the boot of the BMW, a trickle of blood ran through the side on to my fingers. I was scared, ran away and informed the police,” is what he told the police.

When the police arrived, a suitcase was found abandoned near a BMW (CH04F 0027) with its boot still open.

“The suitcase was opened to reveal the body of Ekam Singh Dhillon. Preliminary investigation shows that a bullet from a 9-mm pistol had pierced through Ekam ’s head. We searched the house of the couple and found the children in a state of shock,” said Mataur SHO Baljinder Singh Pannu, adding that the pistol used in the crime had been recovered.

“A case of murder has been registered against Seerat Kaur, her mother Jaswinder Kaur and brother Vinay Pratap Brar on a statement from the deceased’s brother Darshan Singh,” the SHO added.

“She has confessed to the crime and says that she and the victim had a strained relationship,” said SAS Nagar SSP Kuldeep Chahal.

On Saturday, Ekam had gone to meet his father in Phase 6.

He had sounded upset, his father told the police.

FAMILY HAD SHIFTED TO SAS NAGAR 15 DAYS AGO

Police say the couple’s landlord Satinder, who stays on the ground floor, did not hear anything.

He has told the police that the family had shifted from Sector 40, Chandigarh, to his house 15 days ago; the two children are now with their paternal grandparents.