Police in London have charged a 31-year-old Indian-origin man with murdering a 26-year-old Indian-origin woman who was found with gunshot injuries at a house in west London last week. The Metropolitan Police said on Monday that the man, Rajat Jaswel, had been arrested shortly after the woman was found and had since been charged with murder as well as a firearms offence.
The force identified the dead woman as Navneet Kaur, who was reported to be from Punjab. According to the account given by the police, officers went to a property in Chertsey Road in the Hounslow area of west London on the afternoon of November 4 in order to carry out a welfare check, and while there they found her with gunshot wounds.
She was pronounced dead at the scene after sustaining fatal injuries, the force said. Her family had been notified of the death and specialist officers were supporting them, according to the police statement, which did not name anyone else in connection with the case.
In the statement, the force said a man would be produced in court over the killing of a woman who was shot in Hounslow. It named him as Rajat Jaswel, 31, who is also of Indian heritage and is of Chertsey Road, Hounslow.
Jaswel has been charged with murder and also with possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, and appeared at Hendon Magistrates' Court on Monday, November 9. A police statement issued before the hearing had said he would be produced in court that day, and the charge is an allegation that has not been tested in court.
Detective Chief Inspector Sarah Lee, who is leading the investigation for the force, said the thoughts of the police remained with the family and loved ones of the dead woman as they came to terms with a devastating loss. She said that while a man had now been charged, the inquiry was continuing and remained open.
Officers remained keen to speak to anyone holding information that could help, and the force appealed in particular for doorbell or dashcam footage from the area. People were asked to contact police on 101 and to quote the reference 01/8264940/26.
The force's statements did not set out a possible motive for the killing and did not say whether the woman and the man charged were known to each other before the shooting. No other suspect has been named in the police statements.
(With inputs from media reports)