The Indian Panorama

Tag: Murder

  • Indian-Origin Man gets Life for Brutally Murdering his Partner in UK

    Indian-Origin Man gets Life for Brutally Murdering his Partner in UK

    LONDON  (TIP): A 23-year-old Indian-origin man who stopped a police officer in the street and made comments implicating himself in an attack on his estranged partner has been sentenced to life imprisonment for her brutal murder by a UK court.

    Jigukumar Sorthi was sentenced to serve a minimum of 28 years behind bars before being considered for parole after he was found guilty of the murder of 21-year-old Bhavini Pravin, who was found stabbed at her home in the city of Leicester in March.

    “This was a horrific, brutal and merciless killing. You took the life of a beautiful, talented young woman, just 21 years of age,” Justice Timothy Spencer told Jigukumar Sorthi at the sentencing hearing at Leicester Crown Court on Wednesday.

    During a murder trial earlier this month, the jury heard how he had felt jilted by Bhavini Pravin after she broke off plans for their wedding ceremony.

    At around 12.30 pm on March 2, Jigukumar Sorthi went to her home and once inside they talked for a few minutes before Jigukumar Sorthi stabbed her multiple times and left the property.

    Leicestershire Police and East Midlands Ambulance Service personnel were called to the address where the victim was pronounced dead.

    Less than two hours after the incident, Jigukumar Sorthi approached an officer outside Spinney Hill Police Station in Leicester and made admissions implicating himself in the stabbing of Bhavini Pravin.

    A post-mortem examination was carried out and concluded Bhavini Pravin died as a result of multiple stab wounds.

    “Bhavini was a young woman who had the rest of her life to look forward to. She was a gentle caring soul and came from a close and very private family. It is fair to say she was the apple of her parents” eyes,” said Detective Inspector Kenny Henry, the senior investigating officer from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit Major Crime team.

    “Losing Bhavini so early in life and in such tragic circumstances continues to take its toll on her parents and brothers – their lives have been changed forever. To have lost their beloved daughter to someone who they trusted to take care of her is something they will never recover from,” he said, adding that the sentence would hopefully be of some comfort to her family.

    “Being present during the trial was understandably difficult for the family and I must commend their bravery, courage, and dignity throughout. Nothing will bring Bhavini back but I can only hope that today’s outcome will, in due course, be of some comfort knowing that the man who ended their daughter’s life has been brought to justice,” he added.

    According to local ‘Leicester Mercury” reports, Jigukumar Sorthi had a civil ceremony with Bhavini Pravin in India in 2017 and followed her to England on a spousal visa in August 2018.

    However, the couple lived at separate addresses and the match did not seem to work out.

    Bhavini Pravin was to marry Jigukumar Sorthi in a religious Hindu wedding ceremony, but her family called it off a day before the murder.

    Bhavini Pravin’s life was cut short in a brutal, callous attack in her own home. The defendant took a knife to her house and yet tried to claim he was not in control of his actions,” said Lucie Boulter from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

    “We prepared compelling evidence that showed the court that this was clearly planned and premeditated,” she said.

    When he gave himself up to the police, Jigukumar Sorthi alleged that Bhavini Pravin had ruined his life.

    His lawyer told the court that his client had struggled to cope with life in the UK during the court proceedings which were translated into Gujarati for his benefit.

  • Indian arrested for stabbing wife to death in Miami

    Indian arrested for stabbing wife to death in Miami

    MIAMI, FL (TIP): Philip Mathew (Nevin), 34, of Wixom, Michigan has been arrested and charged in the murder of his Malayalee wife Merin Joy, 26. She was a nurse at Broad Health Coral Springs Hospital.

    Merin died around 7:30 am on Tuesday, July 28 as she was returning to the parking area to return home after her night shift. At approximately 7:38 a.m., Coral Springs Dispatch received a 911 call from Broward Health Coral Springs, about a possible stabbing and hit and run in progress.  Once officers arrived on the scene, contact was made with the victim, Merin Joy, age 26, who was in the west parking lot with multiple stab wounds.  Rescue arrived on the scene and transported the victim to Broward Health North for treatment where she succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead at the hospital.

    Coral Springs Police detectives conducted an investigation and determined the suspect to be Philip Mathew, age 34, of Wixon, Michigan. The incident is believed to be part of a domestic dispute that was ongoing between the suspect and the victim. Mathew was located in Coral Springs at an area hotel where he sustained a self-inflicted knife wound and was transported to an area hospital for treatment. He was taken into custody within a few hours of the initial 911 call and was charged with First Degree Murder.

  • Indian origin girl shot dead in car hijacking in South Africa

    Indian origin girl shot dead in car hijacking in South Africa

    JOHANNESBURG(TIP): Sadia Sukhra, a nine-year-old Indian origin girl was killed after being shot during a car hijacking in South Africa, outraging the community members and sparking angry protests in Durban.

    Sadia, a grade four student from Chatsworth, was on her way to school with her father when three armed men allegedly ran into their car. They allegedly forced her father out of the car and sped away with her.

    In an ensuing chase, the carjackers and community members shot at each other. The suspects later crashed the car near a park. The girl was found shot and critically injured while one of the suspects tumbled out of the car dead.

    Sadia was rushed to a hospital but succumbed to her injuries.

    A second carjacker was arrested by an off-duty policeman. A third suspect remains at large.

    KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala confirmed that one of the hijackers was killed.

    Following the incident, more than 3,000 members of the community gathered outside Chatsworth police station demanding swift police action.

    As the small contingent of officers at the police station allegedly came under severe verbal abuse and threats of physical action from protestors, they resorted to firing rubber bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades to disperse the crowd, which included scores of children.

    Chatsworth is an Indian township in Durban.

    Mahendra Lillkan, chairperson of the local Crime Forum, said there had been a spike in crime in the area despite community patrols at night.

    “It seems that the criminals have now resorted to striking at soft targets, such as parents taking their children to school, as we have seen with this tragic incident.”

    Police and community leaders have appealed for calm amid fears that the protests would escalate as the distraught family prepared for the funeral.

    Tributes for the little girl have poured in on social media as news of her shooting went viral.

     

  • Indian Origin Woman Killed, Buried at UAE Home

    Indian Origin Woman Killed, Buried at UAE Home

    SHARJAH (TIP): According to a local media report, a 36-year-old Indian Origin woman’s decomposed body was found by the police at her house in UAE’s Sharjah city on April 26th.

    The woman’s body was hidden underneath the floor of her house and was only recovered after the police used sniffer dogs to help find the body. Police suspect the woman’s husband to have killed and buried her inside the house. The reports further said that the husband, who belongs to Kerala, had left the United Arab Emirates and returned to India leaving a ‘For Rent’ sign put up on the front door of the house.

    Initial investigations by the police revealed that the accused husband, who also had another wife, had sent his other wife to India with his two children before committing the crime.

    It was only after the woman’s brother could not find anybody at her house that the incident surfaced, according to Sharjah police.

    The woman’s brother used to speak to her every day, according to police officials. When she had stopped responding to her brother’s calls, he had come to Sharjah from India to look for the woman.

    He also filed a missing person complaint with the Sharjah police on April 9.

    “A missing person report was received from the woman’s brother, who told police that he used to speak to his sister daily but one day, she stopped answering her phone,” Commander-in-Chief of Sharjah Police, Major-General Saif Al Ziri Al Shamsi was quoted by Gulf News.

    It was further reported that the police acted on the complaint and sent a search team to the woman’s house in Sharjah’s Maysaloon area after receiving permission from the public prosecution.

    During the search, the police found a few tiles from the floor of a room missing. It was then that the police brought in sniffer dogs and uncovered the woman’s body from underneath.

    The woman’s body was sent to a forensic laboratory for an autopsy after the brother identified her.

    The police have also identified the woman’s husband through an iris scan and fingerprints they recovered from the house.

    An arrest warrant has been issued for the husband by Interpol, the police said.