The Hindu : Front Page : India-born husband held in London over woman’s death

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Thursday, Nov 19, 2009
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India-born husband held in London over woman’s death

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: The close-knit Indian community in the London suburbs of Southall and Greenford was struggling on Wednesday to come to terms with the gruesome killing of a young British Punjabi woman who was found in a pool of blood yards from the door of her child-minder’s house.

Her estranged India-born husband is among six men arrested in connection with her death, but nobody has been charged yet. The killing of Geeta Aulakh, 28, a receptionist at Sunrise Radio, the local Asian radio station based in nearby Southall, sent shock waves through the close-knit Indian community in the area. “You report this sort of thing, but you never expect to report your colleague like this. It’s an absolute shock to everyone,” said one of her colleagues.

Ms. Aulakh was suspected to have been attacked on Monday evening while on her way to pick up her two sons, aged eight and nine, from the child-minder’s house. She sustained serious head injuries, and her right hand was missing. The police said that according to the post-mortem report, she died of severe head injuries.

Her estranged husband, Harpreet, also known as Sunny, was among the six men arrested in connection with her death, but none was charged until Wednesday.

Media reports said she had married against the wishes of her parents, Lakwinder Singh, a warehouse worker, and Nardesh, a hospital receptionist. She was separated from her husband a year ago.

A colleague, Seema Sidha, said she and Ms. Aulakh left work together at 6.30 p.m. on Monday. Ms. Aulakh told her that she was going to pick up her children. “That was her normal routine. She would drop her kids off in the morning and pick them up after work. I spoke to the child-minder, and she said she was waiting for. She texted her and phoned, then she realised there were police outside her house. That is how she found out,” Ms. Sidha said.

A neighbour was reported as saying that her teenaged daughter heard a scream at 7 p.m. but thought it was someone “messing about”. Another said she found a woman lying on the pavement opposite her house in a big pool of blood with people crowding around her.

“When the victim was found we know that a lot of people were in the street and that several people may have tried to administer first aid before the police or ambulance arrived. These people left the scene before speaking to the police and I would ask that anyone who was there, or anyone else who has information about the incident, call us in the strictest of confidence,” said acting Detective Chief Inspector Andy Chalmers.

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