Melbourne:
The Australian Queensland Police Department has offered a record $1 million to the public to catch an Indian nurse who fled to India after allegedly murdering an Australian woman on a beach four years ago in 2018.
Toyah Cordingley, 24, was walking her dog on Wangetti Beach, 25 miles north of Cairns when she was killed in October 2018, Australia’s 7news.com reported today.
Rajwinder Singh, 38, who worked as a nurse in Innisfail, is the key person in the case but fled the country two days after Cordingley was killed, leaving his job, wife and three children in Australia, the report said.
The Queensland Police Service is now offering $1 million, the largest ever offered by the Queensland Police Service, for information from the public in the ongoing search for Singh, with Chief Inspector Sonia Smith noting that “the reward is unique”.
We hope that everyone, including those in #India with information on Rajwinder Singh’s location contacts Queensland Police – pic.twitter.com/oIAx4F0kbc
— Queensland Police (@QldPolice) Nov 3, 2022
“We know that Singh left Cairns on October 22, the day after Toyah was killed, and then flew from Sydney to India on October 23. His arrival in India has been confirmed,” she told Australia’s 7news.com.
“We confirmed today that Singh’s last known location was India.” A research center has also been set up in Cairns and police officers who can speak both Hindi and Punjabi have flown in from across the state, News.com reported.
These agents can receive information via WhatsApp from anyone in India who may know where Singh is located.
“We know people know this person, they know where this person is and we’re asking those people to do the right thing,” Police Secretary Mark Ryan told reporters today.
“This person is being charged with a most heinous crime; a crime that tore a family apart.” Deputy Commissioner Tracy Linford said in a statement that this was the first time an initial award of 1 million Australian dollars had been offered in Queensland.
“We are very grateful for the government’s support in approving this important reward, which we believe will help us track down Rajwinder Singh,” she said.
“It’s critical that we grab the attention of an international audience to reach this person.
“The police will not give up – we remain incredibly determined to find answers for Toyah’s family and will do everything we can to shut them down.” Cordingley’s mother Vanessa Gardiner spoke on Thursday about the reward and her “beautiful, spiritual” daughter.
“Her life was taken way too soon. I see her friends and stuff getting married with kids and that now and thinking about everything she missed in her life,” Gardiner said.
“She was about to start her first full-time job on Monday, which never happened.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
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