All four Sikh family members, including an eight-month-old baby girl, who were kidnapped in the US State of California earlier this week, have been found dead in an orchard, US authorities said on Wednesday.
The family, originally from Harsi Pind in Hoshiarpur, Punjab, was kidnapped from their newly-opened trucking business in Merced County, California, on Monday.
Merced County (California) Sheriff Vern Warnke said the bodies of 36-year-old Jasdeep Singh, 27-year-old Jasleen Kaur, their eight-month-old child Aroohi Dheri and the baby’s uncle, 39-year-old Amandeep Singh were found on Wednesday evening in an orchard near Indiana Road & Hutchinson Road.
The murder of four members of a Punjabi-Sikh family has sent shockwaves in Punjab compelling Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to seek the Union External Affairs Minister’s intervention. He has urged the Union Minister Dr S Jaishankar to impress upon the US Government to conduct through probe into the “gruesome” murder.
A pall of gloom descended on the native village of 36-year-old Jasdeep Singh, and his 39-year-old brother Amandeep Singh — Harsi Pind in Tanda block of Hoshiarpur district in Punjab — as soon the news broke. After receiving the news of their abduction on Monday, Jasdeep’s parents had returned to the US on Tuesday night. Settled in the US, Jasdeep’s parents were on India visit for a spiritual trip to Uttarakhand when the received the news.
At 27-year-old Jasleen Kaur’s village Jandir in Jalandhar, the family is shocked with relatives and villagers thronging their house, expressing shock at the “unbelievable” incident.
Shaken, Jasleen’s parents were not in a mental state to speak. After tying the nuptial knot with Jasdeep in January 2019, Jasleen went to the US in October 2020; and was planning to visit her parents in January next year.
Expressing shock and condemning the incident which has shocked everyone especially the Punjabis living across the globe, Mann on Thursday said the brutal murder has raised questions on the security of Punjabis, even in advanced nations like US.
Seeking the intervention of the Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, he urged him to impress upon the national Government of the United States to thoroughly conduct a probe into the matter. “It is the need of hour to instill a sense of security amongst the Punjabis living abroad. The Government of India must flag the issue of security of Punjabis living in the US with their counterpart in America,” said Mann, adding that top most priority must be accorded to this for ensuring safety of the Punjabis living there.
Expressing deep anguish over the incident, Punjab NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Thursday demanded exemplary punishment for the killers. He demanded from the Governor of California and mayor of Merced County in the US that the killers should be arrested at the earliest. He has also appealed that exemplary punishment should be given to the killers so that no one can commit such heinous crimes in the future.
Dhaliwal said the Punjab Government stands with the family in this hour of grief. He also assured that the Punjab Government would take up the matter with full vigour at all levels to ensure that the culprits are brought to book.