SRINAGAR, June 10: Major Avatar Singh, the main accused in the 1996 killing of Kashmiri lawyer Jaleel Andrabi has killed himself alongwith his wife and two children, the Associated Press has reported.
Avatar Singh called Selma police in district California of the US at around 6:15 a.m. and told them that he had just killed four people, Fresno County Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Curtice said.
“When a sheriff’s SWAT team entered the home they found the bodies of Singh, a woman believed to be his wife and two children, ages 3 and 15,” Curtice said.
All four appeared to have died from gunshot wounds.
A 17-year-old boy also found in the home was suffering from severe head trauma and was “barely alive,” Curtice said. The teen was taken to a hospital where he underwent surgery. His condition wasn’t known.
Singh fled to the United States after he was accused of killing a Kashmiri lawyer, Jaleel Andrabi, who had disappeared in March 1996 at the height of an anti-India uprising. His body was recovered 19 days later in a local river and he was found to have been shot in the head and his eyes were gouged out.
Singh, 47, was arrested by Selma police in February 2011 when his wife reported that he had choked her. After Singh was taken into custody, police discovered that he was being sought in India.
Several days later, India requested that the United States arrest and extradite Singh. It wasn’t clear on Saturday why Singh had remained free since the request.
