by Zara Mustapha
A male banker was accused of killing his new wife and burning her body to hide his sexuality.
The accused, 30-year-old Jasvir Ram Ginday had married his wife Varkha Rani, 24 to disguise that he was gay, he was said to have strangled her with a vacuum cleaner extension pipe and burnt her body in a garden incinerator.
All these happened six months after a lavish wedding ceremony.
Ginday had reported to the police that his wife was missing but was arrested after her charred remains were found in his home.
Daily Mail reports:
Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday heard Ginday allegedly carried out the brutal attack on his wife because he was unable to pretend to be straight.
The court heard he strangled his wife with a metal vacuum cleaner extension pipe before forcing her body into the 22-inch deep incinerator and setting it alight.
He also burnt his wife’s wedding ring and bracelet which was engraved with their initials, the court heard.
Police attended the house on September 12 last year after Mr Ginday reported his wife missing.
However, officers did not find her body until the next day when they became suspicious of black smoke billowing from the property.
Prosecutor Debbie Gould said Ginday told officers his wife had assaulted him before walking out when he attended Walsall Police Station to report her missing.
Miss Gould said: ‘Despite his sexual orientation, in October 2012 the defendant and his mother travelled to India and the purpose of the trip was to find him a wife.
‘While he was there the defendant rejected several women he met before meeting Varkha.
‘So, in fact, he met her shortly before his return to the UK through the intervention of a matchmaker known to both families.
‘At the end of a meeting, which lasted several hours, the couple became engaged.
‘No doubt to Varkha’s family the defendant appeared the perfect match for their intelligent, well-educated and attractive young daughter.
+9Wolverhampton Crown Court heard Ginday allegedly carried out the brutal attack on his wife because he was unable to pretend to be straight. The court heard he strangled his wife before forcing her body into the 22-inch deep incinerator and setting it alight
‘The defendant worked in a bank and was financially secure.
‘The Crown says his marriage was motivated by the desire to please his parents and ensure the marriage of his younger sisters.
‘His wife’s murder on the other hand was driven by the reality of being married.’
The couple were married at a ceremony in India on March 28 last year after which Ginday travelled back to England. His wife joined him on August 10 after her visa arrived.
Miss Gould said that on the day of the murder the couple were left alone in the house for the first time as both Ginday’s parents, who also lived at the address, were out.
At 2pm neighbours noticed thick, black smoke coming from the back of the property.
Witnesses described a ‘hog roast’ smell similar to the kind which comes from a crematorium.
Neighbour David Goulder was so concerned about the smoke he even rang the home’s doorbell but Ginday told him: ‘I’m just burning some rubbish.’
+9Ginday, of Walsall, West Midlands, denies the charge of murder by has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and also a further charge of perverting the course of justice by lying to police
But it was not until 9.30pm that night, when Ginday went to Walsall Police Station with his uncle claiming his wife had left him and that she was now missing, that police attended the property.
Miss Gould told the court: ‘The defendant claimed Varkha had walked out of the house saying she was leaving him and she pushed him down the stairs.
‘He said she had used him purely to get into the UK.
‘After police officers received a missing persons report they went to Victory Road and searched the premises. That is standard procedure.
‘They found a neat tidy house which was full of the defendant’s relatives.
‘Officers conducted house to house calls and neighbours unusually had seen smoke coming from the home from 2pm on Thursday 12th for the rest of the day.
‘At 7am the next day (September 13) neighbours again saw smoke coming from the house and continued all morning. It was described as plastic and hog roast combined.
+9
+9Forensic experts at the property in Walsall, West Midlands, left, after the charred remains of 24-year-old Varkha Rani were found by police officers, right, in an incinerator in the back garden
‘Neil Fellows, a fisherman, went to the pond in the park at the back of the house and described to someone having a pork roast with the fat spitting out and compared it to smoke coming from a crematorium.
‘At 8pm on Friday 13th not only did police search the house but the garden as well.
‘PC Rust went into the garden accompanied by the defendant’s uncle.
‘Although it had been raining it smelt like something had been burning, PC Rust asked “what is that burning?”
‘The defendant replied “ashes, no I mean leaves”.
‘PC Dutton noticed a metal incinerator in the alleyway at the side of the house.
‘She lifted the lid and found herself looking down on a human skull which was severely burnt.
‘There was a skull staring back at them with missing eye sockets and only a few teeth.
‘PC Rust then asked the defendant “Is that your f***ing wife?.” The defendant remained silent and backed away.
+9Miss Gould said that on the day of the murder the couple were left alone in the house for the first time as both Ginday’s parents, who also lived at the address, were out
‘PC Dutton was able to make out what was in the incinerator was a body and she was folded up foetal like.
‘The knees were completely bent up towards her chest and in line with her torso.’
When police seized the family laptop computer they discovered searches had been made on August 16 – weeks before the murder – for garden incinerators.
Ginday was then arrested and taken to the police station although he did not confirm if the body was that of his wife.
Post-mortem examinations by a pathologist and a forensic anthropologist showed Varkha’s body was folded into the ‘small furnace’ in the foetal position.
The body was so badly burnt that its age and race could not be determined and Varkha was formally identified using a DNA sample taken from her father.
Mercifully, Miss Gould told the jury, there was no evidence that the ‘slender and slight’ victim was still alive when she was placed in the incinerator.
+9Prosecutor Debbie Gould said Ginday reported his wife missing on September 12 and told officers his wife had assaulted him before walking out of their home in Victory Lane, Walsall, pictured
A bangle, a bracelet, and an inscribed ring the Crown say was presented to Mrs Rani on her wedding day, were found in the incinerator after it was taken to a mortuary with the human remains inside.
Pathologists later confirmed the human remains were that of Varkha and that she had died from strangulation by a metal pole being placed across her throat.
Jurors also heard that a claw hammer stained with blood matching Varkha’s was found by police in a shed at the house, while burnt jewellery and paperwork was found in adjoining parkland.
Miss Gould said: ‘What remains were found were of her head, left shoulder, pelvis, abdomen, parts of her knees, some of her thighs and a large amount of bone.
‘A metal bracelet and a ring with the inscription ‘V and G 2013’ was also found in the incinerator.
‘Some areas still had clothing, two bra wires were also found but her age, sex and race could not be determined.’
Miss Gould also suggested to the jury, which is expected to hear two weeks of evidence, that Varkha’s remains may have been taken away by refuse workers if they had not been found by police.
+9Police attended the house on September 12 last year after Mr Ginday reported his wife missing. However, officers did not find her body until the next day when they became suspicious of black smoke billowing from the property
Yesterday, the heartbroken father of Mrs Rani broke down as he described his daughter as being ‘like a god’.
Surjit Singh told the court he did not know his son-in-law was gay and did not even know what the term meant.
Through an interpretor, Mr Singh, from the Panjab state in India, said: ‘I was only told by a policeman yesterday or the day before about Jasvir being gay.
‘I didn’t understand what it meant. I asked what it was. The policeman said it was a man having another relationship with another man.
‘I was shocked and distressed by it.
‘Of course I wouldn’t have let her marry him if I had known. I have never heard of it before. No, Varkha didn’t know about gay either.’
Mr Singh added that his daughter never mentioned she was unhappy when she was in England but said they never really spoke.
+9Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday heard Ginday allegedly carried out the brutal attack on his wife because he was unable to pretend to be straight
He said: ‘She never talked properly. We never talked to her openly. We were able to talk to her but we didn’t know why she didn’t talk to us.’
He confirmed his daughter completed a degree and a master’s degree in science and information technology in India.
She also completed an English language course before coming to England.
He added: ‘She was like a god, she was lovely, like a toy to us. She was the youngest and intelligent and hard working. She was always happy.’
Ginday, of Walsall, West Midlands, denies the charge of murder by has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and also a further charge of perverting the course of justice by lying to police.
The trial continues.
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