Prabhleen Matharu was killed by her “husband,” says dad

THE father of international student Prabhleen Kaur Matharu, 21, has told the media in Surrey that the 18-year-old boy who killed his daughter was her “husband.”

According to a Hindustan Times report, the victim’s father, Gurdial Singh Matharu, a Jalandhar-based photojournalist who has come to Surrey to take his daughter’s body back to Punjab, told the media : “Earlier this year, Prabhleen had sent me her picture with Peter [“Pieter Biermann”] while they were on the way to Calgary for a court marriage. She said they were facing certain legal tangles in Surrey as the minimum age to get married there was 19. So, they decided to go and get married in Calgary.”

He added: “The Canadian police have found the duo’s picture after their marriage in Prabhleen’s belongings.”

[Pieter Biermann’s Instagram – that is private – quotes the Bible: “… let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24).]

On November 21, Surrey RCMP located two dead persons at a residence in the 14000-block of 102A Avenue, and subsequently called in the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT).

On November 25, IHIT announced that the victim was a 21-year-old female from India and the second dead person was an 18-year-old male resident of the Lower Mainland. “We are not looking for further suspects,” IHIT added.

Indian media reported Prabhleen was a native of Chitti village near Lambra in Jalandhar district of Punjab. She had been in Canada since 2016 on a study visa and was to return in January next year.

According to her Facebook, she had been studying at Langara School of Management since May 21, 2018, and working as a concierge at Mc2 Living – Marine X Cambie.

Her father urged the Canadian police to reopen the investigation, asserting: “A deeper probe is needed to ascertain the motive behind the crime. We all are baffled that what prompted a person who loved my daughter so much to pump bullets into her.”

He added: “The police told me Peter had bought the gun on the day of the crime. I requested the police to show me the murder weapon but they refused,” according to the Hindustan Times.

“Prabhleen and Peter used to work at a coffee house together. Peter understood Punjabi very well and he even chatted with me in Punjabi on a messaging app,” Gurdial Matharu said.

“They were planning to come to India in January and were eagerly looking to visit the Golden Temple and Taj Mahal. Prabhleen told me that they were about to shift to a new house soon.”

The father said his daughter will be cremated in her native village and that a Canadian NGO is helping in making arrangements to take the body to India.

The Hindustan Times also reported that India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had informed Jalandhar MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary  in a letter that the Indian “consulate is working closely towards earliest transportation of mortal remains of Prabhleen Kaur from Canada to her native place in Jalandhar.”

Chaudhary had met Jaishankar in New Delhi and raised the issue with him. He had requested the minister to bring back Prabhleen’s body to India at the government’s expenses.