THREE days after former Quark engineer Sukhvinderjit Singh was shot dead in Mohali, Punjab Police today arrested his wife Neki Nalwa and her alleged lover Hakikat Singh, alias Brandy, on charges of murder and conspiracy.
Hakikat’s friend Vicky, an Amritsar resident whose pistol was used to kill Sukhvinderjit, is absconding, said police. The weapon has been recovered, they said.
Vicky, who was convicted in another criminal case, had recently come out of Amritsar jail on parole. Hakikat had been absconding ever since a case was registered against him and a Russian national under the Immoral Trafficking Act in Mohali a few months back.
Police said that the case was cracked after scrutinising cell phone records of Neki. According to them, she spoke ‘‘frantically’’ with Hakikat before and after the murder—726 times in three days. Sources added that police also recorded conversations between the two.
While Neki was arrested from her residence in Sector 69, Mohali, Hakikat was picked up from Amritsar.
During interrogation, Hakikat admitted that he had gone to Chandigarh Club on Sunday evening—the night of the murder—where he had a few drinks. Over the evening, he talked to Neki on her mobile phone—the murder conspiracy had already been hatched and the day fixed, said sources.
Sukhvinderjit used to go for a post-dinner walk with his servant but on Sunday, Neki accompanied him, said police. Hakikat then shot Sukhvinder at the pre-arranged spot—near Doon International School— sources said.
Later, Hakikat attended his friend’s marriage in Zirakpur and returned to Amritsar. According to the police, Neki and Hakikat developed a relationship while studying for LLB from Guru Nanak Dev University. Neki was Hakikat’s senior—their families were also aware of their affair, but were against their marriage, they added.
In fact, Neki had filed a divorce petition in court, but Sukhvinderjit had been against it for the sake of his son, said sources. After Sukhvinderjit was suspended from Quark for embezzling funds, Neki and Hakikat decided to kill him, hoping that police would zero in on company officials.
Neki and Hakikat would be produced in the court tomorrow. Police are likely to move an application for taking them into custody for further interrogation.
How they cracked it
* Neki spoke with Hakikat for nearly an hour before the murder
* Police tracked the mobile number, call records showed that they spoken 726 times in the last three days
* Hakikat was tracked and arrested before he confessed