Deccan Chronicle

Former Indian athlete kills wife, mom in US, held

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Washington, Aug. 26: Iqbal Singh, a former Asian Championsh­ip bronze medalist for India, has been charged with murder in the US after he chillingly admitted to killing his wife and mother, according to media reports. Singh, 62, from Delaware County in Pennsylvan­ia called police on Sunday morning to admit his crime, The Philadelph­ia Inquirer quoted officials as saying.

When police arrived at Singh’s home in Newtown Township, they found Singh covered in blood, suffering from self-inflicted stab wounds. Inside were the bodies of the two women, the report said.

Singh was charged on Monday with first- and third-degree murder, court records show, and remained in custody, denied bail given the nature of the charges.

There was no indication that he had hired an attorney, it said. The former shot-putter won a bronze medal at the 1983 Asian Athletics Championsh­ip, which was held in Kuwait. This remained the biggest achievemen­t of his sporting career before he moved to the US. He was working as a taxicab driver, US media reports said.

Singh was taken to an area hospital for the treatment of self-inflicted injuries, where he remains in police custody, NBC News reported. At Singh’s home on Rockwood Road, police found his mother, Nasib Kaur, lying unresponsi­ve on the first floor with her throat slit. Singh’s wife, Jaspal Kaur, was found upstairs, similarly wounded. Both women were pronounced dead at the scene, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. The motive in the slayings was unclear.

“At this point, there’s been no previous criminal contact with this individual and so the mystery of why this happened is still a mystery.” CBS Local quoted Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteim­er as saying.

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