Rajvinder Kaur Gill
Rajvinder Kaur Gill is a Canadian banker who disappeared in late August, 2012, while on a trip to Pakistan.[1][2][3][4]
Immigration to Canada and career as a banker
According to Gill's family they immigrated to Canada in 1999.[5] Gill had worked for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce until 2006, when she took a job with an International banking firm in Switzerland.
Newspapers from Pakistan identify Gill as a member of the Sikh religion.[1][6]
According to her sister Gill had recently met a romantic interest online, and the real purpose of her trip was to meet up with him.[7]
Gill is reported to have resigned her job shortly before her fatal trip.[1]
Fatal trip
Gill applied for a visa to Pakistan from Dubai on August 12, 2012.
Accounts of the purpose of her trip differed. Some accounts said she had traveled to Pakistan to settle a long-standing debt.[6] Other accounts said she was attending a conference.[8] Yet another account said the purpose of her trip was her first in-person meeting with a romantic interest she met online.[5] And yet another account said the purpose of her trip was to look for and purchase precious gemstones.[9]
According to the Asian Journal it took months for Gill's family to get Pakistani officials to initiate an investigation into her disappearance.[1] According to the Express Tribune Assistant Advocate General Arib Yaqoob filed a report with magistrates on December 6, 2012, which said that Gill was still not officially considered "missing".[7][10][11]
Pakistani officials have two suspects, cousins Hafiz Shahzad Hussain and Shahid Ghazanfar.[1] Hafiz was apprehended, and interrogated by Pakistan's Intelligence Bureau, and is reported to have confessed to have given an account of her murder. According to the Pakistani officials, in that confession his cousin Shahid owed Gill a large sum of money, and offered to pay him for help killing her. He confessed they lured her on a car trip to view gems, where Shahid first covertly served Gill Tea laced with a sedative, so she wouldn't struggle, and then strangled her. He confessed to helping dump her body in a rural canal.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Ravinder Kaur Gill was allegedly strangled to death in Pakistan, body has yet to be recovered: Gill was a distant relative of Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal". Asian Journal. 2013-01-07. Archived from the original on 2013-02-07. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.asianjournal.ca%2Fjan%25204_13%2Fot_head1.html&date=2013-02-07. "According to a Facebook page set up by her family, Gill moved to Canada 13 years ago with her family and lived in Mission. She worked for CIBC in Vancouver until 2006. She had recently left her job at a private banking group in Zurich, Switzerland."
- ↑ Colin Freeze (2013-01-02). "Without a trace: Canadians missing in Afghanistan and Pakistan". Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 2013-01-03. http://web.archive.org/web/20130103033714/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/without-a-trace-canadians-missing-in-afghanistan-and-pakistan/article6876542/.
- ↑ Colin Freeze (2013-01-02). "B.C. woman, feared dead, is latest Canadian to vanish in Pakistan". Globe And Mail. Archived from the original on 2013-01-05. http://web.archive.org/web/20130105001841/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/try-it-now/?articleId=6888595. Retrieved 2013-02-07. "A Canadian woman is feared murdered abroad, the latest in a series of mysterious disappearances of Canadian citizens in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Rajvinder Kaur Gill, a 41-year-old involved in the jewellery business whose family is from British Columbia, travelled to Lahore in late August and was never heard from again."
- ↑ "Lawyer: Canadian-Indian woman killed in Pakistan over financial dispute". Globe And Mail. 2013-01-02. Archived from the original on 2013-01-03. http://web.archive.org/web/20130103132111/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/try-it-now/?articleId=6861472. Retrieved 2013-02-07. "The lawyer, Aftab Bajwa, who represents the woman’s father, said the police chief of the eastern city of Lahore told a court Wednesday that a suspect confessed to killing the woman. A police officer said the suspect confessed to working with a German of Pakistani origin who was involved in the dispute, and together they killed the woman."
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedAsianJournal2013-01-03 - ↑ 6.0 6.1 "LHC orders investigation into Sikh woman’s murder". Lahore: The News International. 2013-01-03. Archived from the original on 2013-02-07. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenews.com.pk%2FTodays-News-5-152091-LHC-orders-investigation-into-Sikh-womans-murder&date=2013-02-07. "He added Ghazanfer was on the run and had reached Germany and police had initiated the process of his arrest through Interpol. The CCPO’s reply said that according to the initial interrogation of accused, Ghazanfar had called the Sikh woman to Pakistan as there was some monetary dispute between both."
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Canadian woman Rajvindar Kaur Gill, who went missing in Pakistan in August, murdered" (in English). News East West. 2013-01-02. http://newseastwest.com/has-canadian-woman-rajvindar-kaur-who-went-missing-in-pakistan-been-killed/. Retrieved 2012-11-. "Rajvindar Kaur Gill, 41, who was a businesswoman from British Columbia dealing in gems, came to Pakistan on August 25 last year and went missing the same day."
- ↑ "Pak looks for Sukhbir's missing relative in Lahore". Hindustan Times. 2012-11-17. Archived from the original on 2013-02-07. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindustantimes.com%2FPunjab%2FChandigarh%2FPak-looks-for-Sukhbir-s-missing-relative-in-Lahore%2FSP-Article1-960431.aspx&date=2013-02-07. "Rajvinder Kaur Gill, a Canadian citizen of Indian origin, went missing shortly after she arrived in Lahore last August to attend a conference. Her father, Sikandar Singh, wrote a letter to Badal, seeking the Deputy chief minister's help in finding his daughter."
- ↑ "Murder of Canadian woman : LHC orders police to arrest main accused". Lahore: Daily Times. 2013-01-08. Archived from the original on 2013-02-07. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailytimes.com.pk%2Fdefault.asp%3Fpage%3D2013%255C01%255C08%255Cstory_8-1-2013_pg13_6&date=2013-02-07. "The judge disposed of the petition after DSP Khalid Abu Bakar said that police had lodged the murder case and recovered a laptop of the deceased woman from Shahzad. He said family of the deceased has also identified her laptop and police would scan record in it."
- ↑ Rana Tanveer (2013-01-01). "Missing Canadian: Rajvinder Kaur contacted Malik, Warraich before reaching Pakistan". Lahore: Express Tribune. Archived from the original on 2013-02-07. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Ftribune.com.pk%2Fstory%2F487180%2Fmissing-canadian-rajvinder-kaur-contacted-malik-warraich-before-reaching-pakistan%2F&date=2013-02-07. Retrieved 2013-02-07. "Justice Sheikh Najamul Hassan issued the order after going through a report filed by the CCPO through Assistant Advocate General Arif Yaqoob. The report stated that on December 6, he was informed about the missing woman. He said the city police had no information about Kaur’s whereabouts and that she was not wanted in any case. The judge said he was shocked that despite the matter being in the notice of the chief minister, there had been no progress on it."
- ↑ Sindhu Manjesh (2013-01-01). "Woman of Indian origin missing in Pakistan; Lahore High Court summons police chief". Lahore: NDTV. Archived from the original on 2013-02-07. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ndtv.com%2Farticle%2Findia%2Fwoman-of-indian-origin-missing-in-pakistan-lahore-high-court-summons-police-chief-311918&date=2013-02-07. "The father of a Canadian woman of Indian origin, who has been missing in Pakistan for nearly five months, appeared before the Lahore High Court on Monday, as he continued his attempts to trace his daughter, Rajvinder Kaur Gill. The court, hearing his plea, has directed the Lahore police chief to appear before it on Wednesday and step up efforts to trace Ms Gill."
