A husband who loved a lavish lifestyle despite being unemployed, coupled with frequent fights, physical abuse and infidelity turned Seerat Kaur, a 35-year-old mother of two, into a murderer.
He used to beat me,” was what Seerat told police after she was arrested for shooting Ekam Singh Dhillon (39) and then bundling his body into a suitcase from which it was later recovered.
Seerat, a graduate, got married to Ekam, son of Jaspal Singh, a human rights activist and sympathiser of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, in 2003.
Ekam was then employed with a tea estate in Assam. In 2006, she gave birth to a son, Gurnawas Singh, and in 2012, to a daughter, Humaira.
“Paise bahut barbad karta tha (he used to waste a lot of money),” was the candid reply of Seerat, who is also the niece of former Congress MLA from Sardulgarh, Ajit Inder Singh Mofar. Mofar lost in the recent assembly elections to a Shiromani Akali Dal candidate.
Seerat’s father Captain Gurprem Singh died in 1985 in an accident while he was serving in the army. Her grandfather Ranjeet Singh Brar was very close to former President Giani Zail Singh.
Seerat’s brother Vinay Partap Singh owns 200 acres of land in Abul Khurana village in Malout sub-division of Muktsar. In 2007, Vinay had contested the assembly elections against Mofar, but lost.
Following a dispute over a share of the land, Vinay allegedly threw Seerat and their mother Jaswinder Kaur out of the house and thus, Jaswinder was living with the couple since their marriage.
A shady past
After leaving his job in the tea estate, Ekam started a stone crusher and construction business in Nayagaon in SAS Nagar, but that did not work out.
He later started an eatery in Sector 39, which saw the same fate. He was reportedly planning to venture into a liquor contract business.
Ekam had worked with Punjab Agrotech and Markfed as well.
While working with Punjab Agrotech, Ekam floated a firm in the name of Seerat Dhillon - Global Agri Venture and thus, her name figured in the multi-crore Citrus Council scam.
Ekam was senior manager of the Citrus Council and was accused of siphoning off money to fake firms. The firm had shown business worth Rs 1.15 crore and had come up with its manufacturing plants in Mangat and Mudadpura villages in Ludhiana.
