Woman, toddler killed in Rajouri accident, husband missing

Rajouri, Aug 13: A 25-year-old woman and her two-year-old son were killed when their vehicle plunged into a gorge in Khawas tehsil on the Khawas–Moughla road late Tuesday night, with police launching a search for the woman’s Army personnel husband, who went missing from the crash site amid suspicions that the accident may have been staged.

The victims, identified as Lalita Devi (25), wife of serving Army personnel Baljeet Singh, and her two-year-old young son, are both residents of Bhella Khawas.

Duo died after their vehicle with registration number 24BH5324C plunged into a deep gorge during the midnight hours.

According to officials, the information of the accident was received in the midnight hours, after which a rescue operation was launched, and both bodies were recovered from the mangled vehicle and shifted to the Primary Health Centre, Khawas.

However, the incident took a mysterious turn when it was found that the vehicle’s driver, reportedly the deceased woman’s husband driving the vehicle, was missing from the accident site.

Subsequent investigations revealed that Baljeet Singh, serving in the Army, had not been traced since the mishap, while authorities suspect the possibility of the accident being staged to conceal a crime.

The parental family members of the deceased, while considering it to be a criminal act, alleged that the husband, Baljeet Singh, has murdered both his wife and son.

“He killed both of them and then staged a drama of accident,” the family members said while calling for exemplary punishment against the accused, considering it an inhumane act that cannot be described in words.

Meanwhile, the bodies of the deceased were shifted to Government Medical College (GMC) Associated Hospital, Rajouri, where a postmortem was conducted by a board of doctors.

A search operation is underway to trace the missing Army personnel, while police have registered a case, and further investigation is in progress.

It has further been mentioned that the parents of the deceased woman were adamant about cremating her body inside the house of the husband, but police somehow managed to pacify the situation, and last rites and cremation were conducted at the cremation ground of the village.