Canadian newspapers are full of last week's alleged killing of 30-year woman Navneet Kaur (of Phoenix) for whose murder the local police are accusing her estranged husband Avtar Grewal of Abbotsford, British Columbia.
Grewal, it is reported, is now lodged in the maximum security Tihar Jail in Delhi, pending formal extradition request from the US for facing criminal charges relating to the death of Kaur.
As the reports go, Grewal (trained as an accountant in India), was working as a night driver for a delivery company in British Columbia, when he visited Kaur in Phoenix on March 30. The next day police discovered a 'woman's lifeless and bloodied body in her East Redwood Lane home after her co-workers became worried when she didn't show up for work.'
Police investigating Kaur's death say she was seeking a divorce from Grewal. According to a full-page report in the Globe and Mail (April 4), Phoenix police allege that Grewal flew from Vancouver to Arizona on March 30 and paid Kaur a visit at her home.
Police reportedly tracked his movements to Sky Harbor International Airport.
There investigators reportedly found he had taken a one-way flight to Newark, New Jersey, and from there he was on his way to India.
While Grewal was on board the flight bound for New Delhi international airport, Phoenix police obtained a warrant for his arrest. International authorities in New Delhi reportedly arrested him on April 1 as he landed at Indira Gandhi airport.
There will now be lengthy extradition proceedings. Officials at Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs only said the department is "aware of a possible Canadian resident fleeing the Unted States to India. Attempts are being made to determine this person's status in Canada."
Grewal's defence lawyer in India S N Vasisht reportedly said outside the New Delhi court on April 2, when he briefly appeared before a judge, that his client is under judicial remand in Tihar Jail while the government awaits an official extradition request from US authorities.
"Grewal will oppose his extradition and defend himself according to his rights," he reportedly said.
Vasisht said he has yet to see the official charges or the evidence again Grewal.