Delhi Police Arrest Indian Man for Murdering Australian Woman

Delhi police have arrested an Indian nurse accused of killing an Australian woman in Queensland in 2018. There was a 1 million Australian dollar reward for information leading to the nurse’s arrest. The accused will now be extradited to Australia as per the Australian government’s request.

Rajwinder Singh, 38, who is originally from Buttar Kalan, Punjab was working in Innisfail Town as a nursing assistant. In 2018, 24-year-old Toyah Cordingley was walking her dog at Queensland’s Wangetti Beach when she was killed by Singh. Two days later, he left Australia leaving behind his job, wife, and three children. A missing person’s report was filed for Cordingley on October 21, 2018 and her body was found the next morning at Wangetti Beach.

Earlier this month, Queensland Police offered a reward of 1 million Australian dollars for any information that would lead to Singh’s arrest. This is the largest reward offered by the Australian government for a homicide investigation. He was arrested by Delhi police on Friday. Back in March of last year, the Australian government had asked India to extradite Singh and the request was approved this month.

Singh has been taken to Tihar prison following his Delhi court appearance. He is scheduled to show up in court next on November 30. Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll spoke about extradition and said she is confident the case is strong and the process should commence soon. About the 1 million Australian dollar reward, Carroll said “The process will be followed in relation to the million dollars, if [the information] has led to this persons arrest, I will happily write out that cheque myself.”

This is a matter of high priority for the Australian government so they are trying to get Singh extradited as soon as possible. Police Minister Mark Ryan shared information on the process and said, “The general process around extradition with countries like India is you need a brief of evidence approved by the federal government, the Attorney-General’s Department, that then goes over to be approved by the Indian government.”

Vineet Washington