'Terror of breathing in soil': Indian nursing student buried alive in Australia

Jasmeen Kaur, an Indian nursing student, was kidnapped in March 2021 by her ex-boyfriend. She was driven for more than 650 km, while being bound by cable ties in the boot of a car. Later, she was buried alive in a shallow grave.

21-year-old Jasmeen Kaur was buried alive by her ex-boyfriend Tarikjot Singh in Australia.

An Indian nursing student in Australia was kidnapped and buried alive by her former boyfriend in March, 2021 in an act of vengeance after she ended the relationship, a court heard on Wednesday. Jasmeen Kaur from Adelaide city was “made to suffer” by Tarikjot Singh. On Wednesday, Singh pleaded guilty to her murder in court.

Kaur, 21, was kidnapped from her workplace by Singh on March 5, 2021, news.com.au said in a report. He drove for more than 650 km with Kaur bound by cable ties in the boot of a car that Singh had borrowed from a friend.

According to reports, Singh made “superficial” cuts to Kaur’s throat, but not deep enough that could kill her. Later, she was buried alive in a shallow grave in South Australia state’s remote Flinders Ranges.

Horrific details of the incident came to the fore during sentencing submissions at the Supreme Court. Prosecutor Carmen Matteo said the murder was “not efficient” and Kaur endured “absolute terror”.

“She had to have been consciously suffering what could only be described as the absolute terror of breathing in and swallowing soil and dying in that way,” news agency PTI quoted Matteo as saying.

Matteo also said that she was aware of her surroundings when she died at some point on March 6.

“The way in which Kaur was killed involved, really, an uncommon level of cruelty,” Matteo said. “It’s not known when her throat was cut, it’s not known when or how she got into or was placed into that burial grave, and it’s not known when that was dug, other than the prosecution says it had to have been while she was still alive and in preparation for her burial,” she added.

“(It was) a killing that was committed as an act of vengeance or as an act of revenge,” she said.

According to ABC News, Jasmeen Kaur was killed a month after she filed a police complaint that she was being stalked by Tarikjot Singh, prosecutors told the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Jasmeen Kaur’s mother was also present when the sentencing submissions were heard. She said Tarikjot was obsessed with her daughter, who refused him “one hundred times”, 9News said in a report.

Tarikjot had written several messages to Kaur in the lead-up to her death that he never ended up sending. “Your bad luck that I am still alive, cheap, wait and watch, will get the answer, each and every single one will get the answer,” one message said.

Tarikjot planned the killing because he was unable to get over the breakdown of their relationship.

During the initial investigation into Jasmeen Kaur’s murder, Tarikjot denied the allegations. He had said that she had died by suicide, and he later buried her body. Singh, though, pleaded guilty before he was due to stand trial earlier this year. He even took officers to her burial site where they found Kaur’s shoes, glasses, and work name badge in a bin, alongside looped cable ties.

On the afternoon of the kidnapping, security cameras showed Tarikjot shopping for gloves, cable ties and a shovel at a hardware store, ABC News said in a report.

Tarikjot Singh faces a mandatory life sentence. His lawyer labelled it a “crime of passion”, and urged for him to be handed a more merciful sentence.