New Delhi: Gurpeet Singh, the main accused in the 2023 murder of Swiss national Nina Berger, had told her he would perform a “ritual for her mental peace” and planned the killing in advance. On the day of the murder, a heated argument took place between the two over Rs 8.3 lakh owed by Berger. This what the Delhi Police’s 1,000-page charge sheet filed in the case states, ThePrint has learnt.
Singh has been charged with murder and destruction of evidence in the charge sheet that was filed last week.
Berger’s decomposed body, with the limbs chained, was found in a plastic bag dumped outside a school in West Delhi’s Tilak Nagar on 20 October last year. According to police sources, the 36-year-old foreigner, a lawyer who was believed to be in a relationship with 33-year-old Singh, a gemstone dealer, had come to India on 11 October last year and murdered a week later.
Her post-mortem report stated the cause of death as “asphyxia”.
“The accused had planned the murder and even bought a car to carry out the murder. He tied her limbs and hands saying it was a trick. Just before the murder, they had a heated argument over Rs 8 lakh which the woman owed Singh. She threatened him that she would expose him and his father that their ‘pujas’ were performed unsuccessfully. Singh thought it would ruin the family business of gemstones,” a police source told ThePrint.
Sources further said that the police had recovered five pieces of evidence from the car where Singh allegedly strangled Berger and the spot where he dumped her body, and forensic and technical analysis corroborated the findings.
Singh and Berger had met on a dating app five years ago and the accused had also travelled to Switzerland to meet her and performed rituals in her house there as well. His father, Arjun Singh, hasn’t returned from his trip abroad, sources said, adding that he would be questioned once he returned.
The accused, Singh, had initially told the police that Berger didn’t want to marry him and hence he killed her over suspicion that she was dating someone else. He had also initially introduced his father as a “saint” to Berger.
The police investigation later showed CCTV footage of the accused and the victim at ATMs in Delhi where Berger tried to withdraw the money to pay Singh but failed, the sources said.
The police probe had revealed that Singh’s father had also threatened Berger’s family to pay up the money she allegedly owed him.
“On 17 October, the accused met Berger and they went to ATMs together but she couldn’t give him the entire money and could withdraw only Rs 10,000. Then he met her on 18 October again and Berger again failed to withdraw the money. Thereafter, a heated argument followed and Berger threatened to expose Singh. He then tricked her into letting him tie her up and killed her in his car,” the police source quoted earlier said.
“Their relationship would be on and off. The probe started off with fingerprints of Singh found on Berger’s body, the scene of the crime and the locks and the chains used,” a second source told ThePrint, adding that Berger had booked her tickets two months before she travelled to India.
“Singh took her phone and camera after the murder and deleted all chats between them,” the first source said.
According to the police, Singh had tied up Berger, then wrapped her body in a black polythene and strangled her.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)