London, Feb22, 2006
Amolak Singh
NRI, Gurmej Rai, 38, has been given four life sentences
but must serve a minimum of 35 years in jail. He has
been convicted of killing his wife, Darshan Kaur,
her parents Ajit Singh and Gurdish Kaur, and their
daughter-in-law Palvinder Kaur.
Prosecutors said Gurmej Rai lived a bachelor's life
in Britain for six years while his wife stayed in
India, When his wife came to Britain in 2004, however,
her family told him he needed to start acting the
model husband.
Gurmej Rai recruited two men to set their house on
fire. Two Handsworth men, Raju Sahonta, 20, of Station
Road, and Ravinder Bedhan, 19, of Raleigh Close, were
acquitted of four counts of murder and one of attempted
murder by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court.
Badhan and Sahonta told the court that they thought
that the plan was an insurance scam and did not know
that anyone was inside the house. The jury cleared
them of four counts of murder and one of attempted
murder. But both admitted the manslaughter of the
four.
Reports say that Rai was also sentenced to 25 years,
to run concurrently, for the attempted murder of Amerjit
Kaur, 24, who was the only survivor of the blaze.
