UK cops try to solve 1996 murder case

LONDON: West Midlands police investigating a 22-year-old murder case have uncovered new DNA evidence that they hope could help them catch the killer of Surinder Kaur Varyapraj, whose decomposed body was found on March 5, 1996.

No one was arrested and the case remained unsolved despite forensic examinations and inquiries in Handsworth, Birmingham, and 147 witness statements. The police have issued renewed appeals to trace an Asian man.

The body of 36-year-old Varyapraj was found in the first floor bedroom of her home after a shopkeeper in her neighbourhood raised alarm when she couldn’t be traced for several weeks.

She was strangled to death a few weeks before she was reported missing, police said.

Now detectives from the West Midlands police have reviewed the evidence at hand and a DNA profile has been uncovered that has led to several people being eliminated from the original enquiry. But it doesn’t match anyone on the national database.

Also, fingerprints of unidentified people were collected from her residence.

Investigator Sab Johal said, “We are keen to trace an Asian man who drove a Jaguar XJS, with the partial registration RAJ, who has been mentioned by other witnesses during the investigation. He was believed to have rented a room in Vicarage Road, Handsworth. The man was never identified. We think someone may know who he is or remember what car he drove.”

Varyapraj was last seen on February 4, 1996, when she was seen sweeping snow from the alleyway at the back of her house.

Police said she was fit and active and well-known in her neighbourhood. She was divorced, lived alone and was known to have three children, who lived with her ex-husband.