Calls made by US woman’s ‘killer’ landed him in police net after 2 yrs

Singhvi was arrested from Gangakhed, Parbhani, on Monday in a joint operation by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch and the Extradition Cell. A warrant issued by the special extradition court in Patiala House, New Delhi, had been pending against him since 2012 for the murder of Albano, a native of South Tampa in Florida, who was found stabbed and strangled to death in a room in Fraser Suites Hotel in Sukhumvit, Bangkok, in February 2012.

“After coming to India, Singhvi spent some days in New Delhi, after which he went to Nagpur, Nanded and then to Parbhani. Realising that there was a significant Marwari presence in the district, he decided to settle there and managed to secure employment in a cell phone sale and repair store in Gangakhed. Over the next one year, he gained the trust of his employer and became a partner, after which he launched his own store,” said an officer.

Meanwhile, Wendy’s daughters, Jenny and Lauren, contacted a private detective in India, asking for his help to locate Singhvi around two months ago. As soon as the information reached the crime branch, a team of officers from Crime Branch Unit I and the Cyber Crime Investigation Cell was quickly formed.

“Inquiries spanning over the next month and a half led us to a family friend of the Singhvis through whom the accused contacted his family. We noticed that while the friend received regular calls from Gangakhed, the calls were never from the same handset more than once. Based on this seemingly easy access to numerous cell phones, we started looking for cell phone sale and repair stores in Gangakhed and ultimately found Singhvi living under an assumed name,” the officer added.

gautam.mengle@expressindia.com