Husband charged with Sikh woman’s murder in Canada

TORONTO - An Indo-Canadian man is among three people arrested for the murder of his wife in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey in 2007.

Amanpreet Kaur Bahia, 33, was killed in her home in February 2007. The body of the mother of three, including a one-year-old infant, was found by her father-in-law Didar Singh Bahia.

After their arrest Friday, the murdered woman’s husband, Baljinder Singh Bahia, 41, realtor Tanpreet Kaur Athwal, 42, and Eduard Viktorovitch Baranec, 33, were produced in court Monday and formally charged with the four-year-old murder.

The trio were remanded to custody till February 4 when they reappear next in court.

The relatives of the murdered Indo-Canadian woman were told of the arrests by police Friday.

“We have been waiting for four years. He (a detective) meet us in the restaurant … he told me they arrested three guys,” Harpal Sandhu, a cousin of Bahia, was quoted in the local media.

Sandhu said his cousin seemed very happy in her marriage.

“Now I am really, really proud of you guys. I don’t know how to say thank you. Thank you so much. Now my sister’s soul can maybe have a little peace,” said Sandhu, thanking the police for making a breakthrough in the case after four years.

“Maybe Amanpreet’s soul is now is at peace. Before, I was thinking maybe she doesn’t have peace because no one knew what happened with her,” Sandhu was quoted as saying in the Vancouver Sun.

“We are shattered to hear it. But on the other side, we are happy they have got the people,” Parminder Chohan, uncle of the victim, told the paper.

Police have not yet said anything about the relationship of the two other accused with the victim.

One of the fastest growing cities in Canada, Surrey is home to the largest concentration of the Sikh-Punjabi community in this country.

(Gurmukh Singh can be contacted at gurmukh.s@ians.in)