Harshita Brella’s mother calls for justice after daughter’s body found in car boot
Harshita Brella ‘struggled a lot because of her husband’, her sister says
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The mother of a 24-year-old woman found dead in the boot of a car has demanded justice for her daughter.
Following reports expressing concern for her welfare, Harshita Brella’s body was found by police officers in the early hours of Thursday in Ilford, east London, 100 miles from her home in Corby, Northamptonshire.
A post-mortem examination on Friday established that she had been murdered. An international manhunt has been launched for her husband, Pankaj Lamba, who is suspected of killing her “earlier this month” before fleeing the UK on Sunday.
Police have since revealed that Brella was previously the victim of domestic violence, and in early September was made the subject of a Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPO) at Northampton Magistrates’ Court.
Brella’s mother, Sudesh Kumari, has now spoken to the BBC from her family’s home in Delhi, telling the broadcaster: “I just want justice for my daughter.”
Her sister Sonia Dabas said Brella was “very excited” to move to the UK in April after an arranged marriage and wedding ceremony the previous month.
But Ms Dabas said her sister “didn’t live a very happy life in London and “struggled a lot because of her husband”. In August, she called her father in India to say that she had run away, according to Ms Dabas.
“She said he was hitting her and she escaped. She ran out on the streets, he chased after her and hit her there as well,” Ms Dabas told the BBC. “There was a local who saw this and asked what happened which is why he left her. Harshita called someone she knew who came to pick her up.”
Northamptonshire Police have referred themselves to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), confirming they had prior contact with Ms Brella before her death.
The protection order issued in early September at Northampton Magistrates’ Court lasted only 28 days, and banned the perpetrator of the violence from molesting her, threatening violence, intimidating, harassing or pestering her, or going to her place of work. He was also warned not to encourage or order others to be in contact with her.
A neighbour of Brella’s told the Daily Mirror that she overheard an argument between a man and a woman on Wednesday, saying: “They were arguing in a different language so I couldn’t understand what was being said.
“But it sounded angry and there were raised voices and the woman sounded scared.”
Brella’s family said they had last spoken to her by phone on Sunday 10 November. She told them she had made dinner and was waiting for Mr Lamba to come home, Ms Dabas told the BBC.
But after two days of Brella’s phone being switched off, her family came to suspect that “something was wrong” and on Wednesday 13 November asked people they knew to file a complaint, her sister said.
Police launched a missing person investigation after officers found no response at her home in Skegness Walk, and her body was ultimately found in the Brisbane Road area of Ilford in the early hours of Thursday.
Northamptonshire Police said on Sunday that more than 60 detectives were working on the case and were continuing to follow numerous lines of inquiry, including house-to-house, property searches, CCTV and number plate searches.
“We are of course continuing to appeal for any information that will help us piece together exactly what happened as we work to get justice for Harshita,” the force said.