Indian remanded in custody for murders in New Zealand
By IANSFriday, June 25, 2010
AUCKLAND - An Indian fruit packer indicted for killing a woman and his two-year-old daughter has been remanded to custody and asked to reappear in a New Zealand court next month.
Deepak Nagpal, 23, appeared in the Tauranga District Court Friday for the second time after he was charged with the murder of Anna and her mother Ravneet Sangha.
Judge Thomas Ingram remanded Nagpal in custody to reappear July 16. He was earlier produced in court June 11, five days after Ravneet’s body was found at her Otumoetai home in Tauranga district. Anna’s body lay undiscovered for 20 more hours despite an intensive search by police.
In court, Nagpal stole occasional glances at the gallery where Dev Sangha, the husband of Ravneet and at least six other members of Tauranga’s Sikh community were sitting, The New Zealand Herald reported.
Dev refused to comment when approached, saying “everything has been said already”.
Dev, 37, who was in India on a business trip at the time of the killings, earlier said he believed money was the motive behind the killings.
Ravneet worked as a fruit packer at Seeka Kiwifruit Industries in Katikati town.
