British Columbia: A 50-year-old man from Punjab has been charged with second-degree murder in Canada's Abbotsford for stabbing his wife to death on Friday, CTV News reported citing authorities. The homicide investigation team identified the victim as Balwinder Kaur, 41, who was found with life-threatening wounds by police who responded to a call for an assault in progress that night.
Kaur later succumbed to her injuries at the hospital. At the time, police said a man who was 'known to the victim' was arrested at the scene. He was later identified as Jagpreet Singh, 50, Kaur's husband.
"This was an isolated incident. IHIT will continue to work with AbbyPD over the coming days, not only to advance this investigation but to support the community affected by this tragedy," said Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) spokesperson Sergeant Timothy Pierotti.
According to media reports, the deceased victim's family said Jagpreet had gone to Canada just a week ago. "After stabbing my sister to death, Jagpreet made a video call to his mother back home in Ludhiana and said ‘main ehnu sadaa layi sulaata (I have put her to sleep forever)," said Rajwinder Kaur, the victim's sister.
Rajwinder further alleged that Jagpreet had an obsession with going to Canada and since his wife had already reached there, he was forcing and harassing her to arrange his travel at the earliest. The couple also had frequent arguments over their financial conditions as Jagpreet had stopped working and was unemployed, she claimed.
However, such harassment allegations were denied by Jagpreet's brother Jaspreet Singh alias Romi, who said, "He or our family never harassed Balwinder Kaur. They were a happy couple and had returned from shopping a few hours before the incident. After the incident, my brother had called our mother to tell us that he injured his wife by mistake. He was asking for forgiveness. Nothing was intentional."
The couple got married in 2000 and had two children, a daughter Harnoorpreet Kaur (22) and a son Gurnoor Singh (18). According to Rajwinder, Harnoorpreet had gone to Canada around four years ago on a study visa but started facing health issues. "Then my sister Balwinder went to Canada in 2022 to take care of her daughter. However, since the time she had reached there, her husband was constantly hectoring her to call him to Canada at the earliest," she added.
Balwinder was one of 65-year-old Himmat Singh's four daughters and her death left him in a state of shock. He was once a labourer in Dubai, but now is mostly confined to bed due to his health issues. Rajwinder said her sister worked at a private hospital in Ludhiana to run her household before leaving for Canada.
"Now she was working at a store in Canada. She had also incurred some debt and borrowed money from her siblings to send her daughter to Canada. Even then, Jagpreet used to harass her and say that she alone would repay the debt and he won’t contribute," Rajwinder further claimed.
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