An international manhunt has been launched for the husband of a woman found dead and stuffed in a car boot 100 miles away from home who is thought to have fled the country.
Police released a CCTV image of Pankaj Lamba, who they believe murdered Harshita Brella, 24, “earlier this month” before fleeing the country on Sunday.
Ms Brella was discovered in a car boot on Brisbane Road, Ilford, after detectives found her home in the small town of Corby, Northamptonshire lying empty.
Responding to calls concerned for her welfare, officers got no answer at her home in Skegness Walk and promptly launched a fast-track search for her.
This hunt led them to an empty car in east London, where they discovered Ms Brella’s body inside the boot – some 95.7 miles away from her home.
A postmortem at Leicester Royal Infirmary established that Harshita had been murdered.
Northamptonshire Police have referred themselves to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) after they said officers had previous contact with Ms Brella before she was killed.
In a statement, Chief Inspector Paul Cash of Northamptonshire Police said: “Our inquiries lead us to suspect that Harshita was murdered in Northamptonshire earlier this month by her husband Pankaj Lamba.
“We suspect Lamba transported Harshita’s body from Northamptonshire to Ilford by car.
“We believe he has now fled the country.”
Police have released an image of Mr Lamba and urged anyone with any information that may assist inquiries, “no matter how small”, to contact the force.
The Northants Telegraph reports Harshita Brella was previously the victim of domestic violence and just two months ago was made subject of a Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPO) at Northampton Magistrates Court.
Police have urged anyone with information that could assist the investigation into Harshita Brella’s death to come forward.
In a statement, Chief Inspector Paul Cash of Northamptonshire Police said: “I urge anyone listening to or reading this statement, that if you saw anything suspicious in the past week or have any information, no matter how small, please contact us.
“We would always rather receive well-meaning information that turns out to be nothing as opposed to not receiving it all.”
He added: “Anyone who has any information that could help detectives bring Harshita’s killer to justice can contact the incident room by calling 101, quoting incident number Operation Westcott.
“Alternatively information can be submitted via our online public portal at www.mipp.police.uk or please feel free to call Crimestoppers, in confidence, on 0800 555111.”
