IndiaPost.com - NRI held in Delhi for killing wife in Arizona, US

NEW DELHI: Avtar Grewal, 32, a Canada-based NRI, has been arrested here on the basis of a US police international warrant for the murder of his wife, Navneet Kaur (31) in Phoenix, Arizona. The CBI detained him at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Saturday night as he was trying to flee to India.

The US Police had issued a ‘look-out circular’ (LOC) for Avtar Singh Grewal, a manager with a firm in Vancouver, Canada after his estranged wife Navneet Kaur was found dead on Friday at her home in Phoenix. The two had married in October 2005 in New Delhi, but had subsequently separated. Kaur lived alone in her house at Ahwatukee in the suburbs of Phoenix.

The girl’s family lives in Gurgaon. Police say Grewal was last seen outside his wife’s home around 10:30 pm — US time — on Thursday. It is believed that he flew from Canada to Phoenix. When Kaur didn’t show up for work on Friday morning, her co-workers went to her house to check on her and found blood, broken bottles and signs of a struggle, police said. Investigators then found Kaur’s body. According to the Arizona Republic daily, Kaur was seeking a divorce.

She was the eldest of the three children of Ratan Singh, an IPS officer of UT cadre who retired in 2005 as Superintendent of Police (Andaman & Nicobar) and had earlier served as a DCP in Delhi. Singh, who lives in Gurgaon, has flown to the US to claim the body, the family said. Kaur had spoken to her younger brother Sandeep Singh on phone in the morning of March 29, a day before her death. She reportedly told him that Grewal was coming to see her and that she wanted to end the marriage. Navneet Kaur, was the eldest of three children of Ratan Singh, who retired as superintendent of police (Andaman and Nicobar) in 2005.

Navneet's younger brother Sandeep Singh, was the only family member to speak to his sister on the morning of March 29, when she called from Phoenix — just a few hours before she was allegedly killed. "Avtar used to harass Navneet. Though, the two were mutually separated, Avtar used to call her and mentally torture her," Singh alleged. Sandeep described Avtar as a man with inferiority complex who was very possessive about Navneet.

"He put many restrictions on my sister Navneet and used to keep her confined. A few months back, she wanted to attend our cousin's marriage and asked him to accompany her but he said he would not go and did not let her attend the wedding either," Sandeep added. "On March 29, Navneet told me that Avtar was coming to see her. When we could not reach her over the phone at night, we asked our relatives in USA to contact her. When one of our relatives spoke to Avtar, he reportedly said that he was in Las Vegas with my sister, enjoying the weekend.

He also asked our relatives to not disturb the couple," Sandeep stated. On Friday, March 30, Navneet was found dead in her apartment by her office colleagues. "It was only when Navneet did not turn up for work the next day that her office colleagues at Assist Technology, where she was working as project manager, checked in her apartment and found her dead," Singh added. Sandeep claims that the alleged murder was planned as soon after her death Avtar flew to India where he knew that his relatives, who are influential positions, would help him. One of Avtar's brothers-in-law is a joint secretary in Public Works Department (PWD) in Delhi while another is a principal secretary with Uttar Pradesh government.