Family awaits body of Indian doctor killed in US

MOHALI - The grief-stricken family members of Vajinder Pal Toor, 34, who was shot dead by a former Chinese colleague in the US, are waiting for the arrival of his body to perform the last rites in the home country.

The suspect, Lishan Wang (44), who was arrested by the police, shot Toor five times in Branford, Connecticut Monday morning in the parking lot of Toor’s condominium complex.

Toor lived there with his pregnant wife Parneeta Sidhu and their 3-year-old son.

“We want to bring the body back to India. Sohan Singh Toor, father of Vajinder, has already left for the US to fulfil all the embassy formalities in order to bring the body at the earliest,” Vajinder’s uncle Parkash Singh told IANS here Wednesday.

“They have told us that it would take around five days for the body to reach India. We are expecting a call at around 6 p.m. and then we will actually come to know about the real situation. According to our information, the accused fired eight times out of which five bullets hit Vajinder.”

An inconsolable Barsanjit Kaur, mother of Vajinder, said: “A big tragedy has struck our family. We could not expect this even in the nightmare.”

Relatives and family friends of the Toors have been coming to their residence here at phase X, since the news broke out.

Before going to the US for higher studies, Vajinder had graduated from a medical college in Punjab in 2001. His father is a senior government official in Haryana.

According to the US police, Toor was attacked while he was going to work at Yale Medical School.

Wang also fired at Parneeta, who ducked behind a car to save herself.

Wang had been fired two years ago from a Brooklyn hospital after a confrontation with Toor, who was his supervisor in some project.