Missing Australian NRI murdered in Amritsar over property dispute; brother and sister-in-law among four arrested

In a shocking incident, a 66-year-old Non-Resident Indian (NRI) from Australia, who had gone missing from Amritsar last month, was found murdered. The Punjab Police have recovered his body from a canal near Harike and arrested four individuals, including the victim’s brother, sister-in-law, and nephew, in connection with the crime.

Preliminary investigations indicate that the homicide was driven by a deep-seated property dispute.

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The deceased, identified as Sunil Sharma, worked as a mathematics teacher in Melbourne, Australia. He had recently traveled to Amritsar to oversee the maintenance and renovation of his house.

According to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amritsar, Kanwalpreet Singh, the victim went missing on May 22, after which a disappearance case was initially registered under Section 364 of the Indian Penal Code.

Addressing a press conference, SSP Singh revealed that Sunil Sharma was spiked with sleeping pills before being fatally bludgeoned on the head with a baseball bat on May 22.

In an attempt to destroy evidence, the perpetrators subsequently dumped his body into the canal near Harike. Investigations exposed that the victim’s brother, Satish Sharma, had lured him to India under the pretext of selling property.

Satish had reportedly fabricated a fraudulent power of attorney in Ludhiana to covertly liquidate several of Sunil’s assets, including a house in Amritsar’s Aishana Estate.

The siblings also had an ongoing dispute over a prime property in Mohali valued at over Rs 4 crore.

The breakthrough came after the police tracked down and apprehended Satish Sharma, his wife Anushka Sharma, and their son from Delhi.

A local property dealer, identified as Lakshman Singh Bal, has also been implicated in the conspiracy. While most of the key accused are currently in custody, law enforcement authorities confirmed that two suspects remain at large, and active raids are underway to secure their arrest.

The case had earlier garnered significant attention after the victim’s daughter, Surbhi Sharma, released an emotional video message from Australia seeking intervention from the public and the state government.

Surbhi stated that her father shared a profound cultural bond with Punjab, which motivated him to purchase a home there. She noted that her father’s phone abruptly went inaccessible on the afternoon of May 22, prompting the family to raise alarms.

In her video appeal, she had also suspected the suspicious movements of her uncle, Sunny Sharma, in the vicinity on the day of the disappearance, leading her to urge Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and the state police to deploy all resources to uncover the truth.