http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect...d/04-british-indians-outsourcing-murder-qs-09
An investigation by the BBC has uncovered the practice of British Indians travelling to India to hire contract killers.
In such intrigues, family and business associates lured to the sub-continent are generally the targets.
Campaigners in India and the UK believe this has claimed lives of hundreds over several years.
These plots, according to the report, are planned in the living rooms of Britain and executed in Indias rural Punjab.
According to the report, a British woman, who was on vacation with her husband visiting relatives in a village in Punjab, was killed during a so-called hit-and-run accident.
However, her relatives suspect foul play.
Her husband wanted to re-marry. He told her to leave him she said, 'I'll die but I won't let him go', her mother was quoted as saying.
They made it look like an accident. There was no blood, no car and no tyre marks.
Despite an investigation by the police, charges are still to be brought against the suspects in India.
The victims name and information on her family could not be revealed for legal reasons, the report said.
Another British woman, Surjit Athwal, was killed in a strikingly similar manner.
Athwal disappeared in Punjab in 1998.
Two years ago, a court in the UK found her mother-in-law and husband guilty of arranging her murder.
The two had hired criminals in India to kill her. She was strangled and her body was later dumped in a river.
I think Surjits case exposed for the first time in this country overseas outsourced killings. How the Punjabi community, settled in Britain, send their females back to the land of origin, in the full knowledge that they can have them murdered easily, swiftly and efficiently, says Surjits brother Jagdeesh, who now campaigns for other victims families.
However, its not only women who are victimised in these types of murders.
Raju (not his real name) recalls his brothers death during a visit to their village in Punjab.
'He was found on the floor, with a bullet in the head. We have evidence to suggest the murder was arranged by his wife and her lover. We believe the motive was to fraudulently claim insurance money.'
Carrying out a murder in India
Finding a person to carry out the murder is simple, Indian journalist Neelam Raaj says.
The person whos taking the contract would just be a small-time criminal. Hes usually a goon in the village.
Murdering is cheap in India with hired killers paid up to $800.
Along with drive-by shootings, another method employed in the killing is a staged road accident.
At the same time, there seem to b fewer risks involved in such tactics.
'What we have in Punjab and in many other states of India is a criminal nexus that takes place between the police, the politicians and the criminals. That nexus gives the Indians that live in the UK a large degree of cover, says Jassi Khangura, who juggles life as a successful entrepreneur with a career in Indian politics.
Even if they're identified as the perpetrators of the crime, they're given a considerable degree of protection and that means they never get charged, says Jassi, an elected representative for the ruling Congress party in the Punjab legislative assembly.
Jassi says corruption in the state police is responsible for the trend which he believes claims the lives of some 100 overseas Indians every year.
Meanwhile, inspector general of police for Punjabs Jalandhar district Sanjiv Kalra says the figures are exaggerated and denies his force is riddled with corruption.
From my experience, these kinds of things are more talked about than they are actually present on the ground, he said.
But for many victims families, the search for justice in India seems elusive.
We have increased our knowledge of and our confidence in dealing with murders of British citizens overseas. We will follow you, we will pursue the evidence and we will bring you to justice wherever in the world you commit these offences, warns Commander Steve Allen of the Metropolitan Police Service.
Meanwhile, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office says it is currently aware of at least six British nationals who have gone missing in the Delhi and in the Punjab area.
An investigation by the BBC has uncovered the practice of British Indians travelling to India to hire contract killers.
In such intrigues, family and business associates lured to the sub-continent are generally the targets.
Campaigners in India and the UK believe this has claimed lives of hundreds over several years.
These plots, according to the report, are planned in the living rooms of Britain and executed in Indias rural Punjab.
According to the report, a British woman, who was on vacation with her husband visiting relatives in a village in Punjab, was killed during a so-called hit-and-run accident.
However, her relatives suspect foul play.
Her husband wanted to re-marry. He told her to leave him she said, 'I'll die but I won't let him go', her mother was quoted as saying.
They made it look like an accident. There was no blood, no car and no tyre marks.
Despite an investigation by the police, charges are still to be brought against the suspects in India.
The victims name and information on her family could not be revealed for legal reasons, the report said.
Another British woman, Surjit Athwal, was killed in a strikingly similar manner.
Athwal disappeared in Punjab in 1998.
Two years ago, a court in the UK found her mother-in-law and husband guilty of arranging her murder.
The two had hired criminals in India to kill her. She was strangled and her body was later dumped in a river.
I think Surjits case exposed for the first time in this country overseas outsourced killings. How the Punjabi community, settled in Britain, send their females back to the land of origin, in the full knowledge that they can have them murdered easily, swiftly and efficiently, says Surjits brother Jagdeesh, who now campaigns for other victims families.
However, its not only women who are victimised in these types of murders.
Raju (not his real name) recalls his brothers death during a visit to their village in Punjab.
'He was found on the floor, with a bullet in the head. We have evidence to suggest the murder was arranged by his wife and her lover. We believe the motive was to fraudulently claim insurance money.'
Carrying out a murder in India
Finding a person to carry out the murder is simple, Indian journalist Neelam Raaj says.
The person whos taking the contract would just be a small-time criminal. Hes usually a goon in the village.
Murdering is cheap in India with hired killers paid up to $800.
Along with drive-by shootings, another method employed in the killing is a staged road accident.
At the same time, there seem to b fewer risks involved in such tactics.
'What we have in Punjab and in many other states of India is a criminal nexus that takes place between the police, the politicians and the criminals. That nexus gives the Indians that live in the UK a large degree of cover, says Jassi Khangura, who juggles life as a successful entrepreneur with a career in Indian politics.
Even if they're identified as the perpetrators of the crime, they're given a considerable degree of protection and that means they never get charged, says Jassi, an elected representative for the ruling Congress party in the Punjab legislative assembly.
Jassi says corruption in the state police is responsible for the trend which he believes claims the lives of some 100 overseas Indians every year.
Meanwhile, inspector general of police for Punjabs Jalandhar district Sanjiv Kalra says the figures are exaggerated and denies his force is riddled with corruption.
From my experience, these kinds of things are more talked about than they are actually present on the ground, he said.
But for many victims families, the search for justice in India seems elusive.
We have increased our knowledge of and our confidence in dealing with murders of British citizens overseas. We will follow you, we will pursue the evidence and we will bring you to justice wherever in the world you commit these offences, warns Commander Steve Allen of the Metropolitan Police Service.
Meanwhile, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office says it is currently aware of at least six British nationals who have gone missing in the Delhi and in the Punjab area.
