Fatehgarh Sahib killings: Accused Khushwinder Singh to be hanged for six murders in 2012

Chandigarh, Mar 05: Resident of Punjab's Fatehgarh Sahib, Khushwinder Singh will be hanged for six murders in 2012. Singh killed his wife's six relatives by drowning them in a canal. Supreme Court calls the offence rarest of the rare, gives death sentence to the convict. He was also was held guilty in a similar case where he killed four members of a family by pushing them into the Sirhind canal in 2004.

A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court had convicted Khushwinder Singh, 45, of Suhavi village in Fatehgarh Sahib, under Sections 302 (murder), 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the Indian Penal Code.

Earlier, a Fatehgarh Sahib court on March 16, 2013, had awarded the death sentence to Khushwinder Singh for killing his wife's six relatives by pushing them into the Bhakra Canal in Ludhiana district in June 2012.

Khushwinder had taken the family to the canal near Mukandpur village in Ludhiana on the pretext of performing a religious ceremony.

The victims were his wife's uncle Gurmail Singh, 70, a retired Punjab Police head constable, his wife Paramjit Kaur, 60, their son Gurinder Singh, 30, their daughter's husband Rupinder Singh, Rupinder's son Jaskirat Singh and daughter Prabhsimran Kaur.

Khushwinder was arrested in July 2012 after Gurmail's daughter Jasmine Kaur managed to swim out and reported the matter to Bassi Pathana police.

Jasmine told the cops that Khushwinder and his wife Manjit Kaur, who was her father's niece, learnt of the ₹37 lakh lying in the house during a visit.

After the family discussed the alcohol addiction of Gurinder, Khushwinder claimed he knew a godman who could cure him. He also promised that he will send Gurinder abroad through an agent, and took ₹2 lakh for it.

Later, Khushwinder had told them that he had consulted the godman and that Gurinder will be cured if they threw grains in flowing water. The family went with him to the canal, where he pushed them into the water.