19 months on, mother and her aide held for 2019 Patiala siblings’ murder

PATIALA: Over 19 months after bodies of two siblings, Jashandeep Singh, 10, and Haldeep Singh, 4, were fished out from the Narwana branch of the Bhakra canal in June 2019, the case has been cracked, with the mother of the children, and her acquaintance, held for murder.

The brothers had gone missing from their home in Kheri Gandian village of Ghanaur, and the family had lodged a complaint with the local police.

The deaths had caused a sensation in the state, and a major political slugfest over law and order, as initially the mother, Manjit Kaur, had alleged that the children were kidnapped.

Her acquaintance, Baljit Singh, an uncle of the accused, was part of the conspiracy to eliminate the children, as they suspected them to be hurdle in their relationship, and in their plans to get married.

Kaur was always on the police radar as a suspect, but she could not be grilled as politicians had thronged her house for days after their incident. Protests over the incident had also hindered police functioning.

Patiala senior superintendent of police (SSP) Vikram Jeet Duggal told reporters on Wednesday that police kept Kaur under watch and finally gathered enough evidence against her.

Baljit took the children along, on the pretext of a joyride and showing them the water in the canal, where the kids would play and enjoy, police said, “He pushed the brothers into canal and left, leaving the kids to die.”

“In 2020, investigation did not proceed well due to the lockdown and related constraints. The case was revisited three months ago and the file was reopened. Certain clinching evidences could be found during technical data analysis and phone forensics of the accused. Lie detection was also conducted,” said the SSP.

The accused were also planning to kill Didar Singh, father of two children, police said.