A man wanted for the murder of his wife in east London has reportedly been spotted withdrawing a large sum of cash at a bank in India.
Harshita Brella, 24, originally from Delhi, was found dead in a silver Vauxhall Corsa on Brisbane Road in Ilford on 14 November 2024. Her husband, Pankaj Lamba, 23, fled the UK for India soon after.
After issuing a Look Out Circular to prevent Mr Lamba from leaving the country, the Delhi police declared him a proclaimed offender on 1 May for evading authorities.
According to local media accounts, however, he had been sighted at a bank in Gurugram, a satellite city south of the national capital Delhi, on 4 March.
Mr Lamba, wearing a face mask, withdrew Rs 430,000 (£3,760) from the bank where he was picked up by CCTV cameras, an unnamed police source told The Indian Express.
“CCTV footage from the bank showed he was alone. Before this he had withdrawn Rs 21,000 (£184) from another bank on the same day,” the source told the newspaper. “But we don’t have footage, so we can’t confirm if he had gone himself or sent someone in his stead.”
Brella was strangled in Corby on the evening of 10 November before her body was driven some 160km south to Ilford the next day, according to the UK police.
The body reached her family home in Delhi’s Palam area on 3 December and a police case against Mr Lamba was filed soon after. The case was registered on the basis of a complaint by Brella’s parents alleging cruelty by her husband and breach of trust. Their daughter’s was a “dowry death”, the parents alleged, implying she had been killed for not bringing enough dowry.
Mr Lamba’s parents were arrested on 14 March under India’s “dowry death” law. While the mother was later released on bail, the father was still in jail as of 20 May.
Mr Lamba married Brella in March 2024 in a match arranged by their families, and flew to the UK soon after. Brella joined him a month later.
In August, Northamptonshire police filed a case of domestic abuse against Mr Lamba and he was arrested before being released on bail.
In Delhi, the Palam police station’s head told The Independent he was aware of the report about Mr Lamba being sighted in Gurugram but declined to comment further.
The police earlier announced a reward of Rs 50,000 (£437) for information leading to Mr Lamba’s arrest.
