Candlelight vigil planned for international student found murdered in Surrey
Credit to Author: Susan Lazaruk| Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2019 01:41:24 +0000
A candlelight vigil is planned for Saturday evening for a young Langara international student whose death last week in Surrey is being investigated as an apparent murder-suicide.
The gathering for Prabhleen Kaur Matharu will be held at Holland Park in Surrey at 5 p.m. on Nov. 30, according to an online posting by One Voice Canada, a non-profit group formed this year to advocate for international students.
The group didn’t return a request for more information.
Holland Park is in Whalley, not far from City Centre and not far from where the 21-year-old from Punjab in India was found dead Friday, in what police are suggesting was a murder-suicide.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team on Monday weren’t commenting on the probe beyond confirming that the deceased were a 21-year-old female from India and “an 18-year-old male of the Lower Mainland.” It said police “are not looking for any outstanding suspects.”
It added: “Due to privacy laws, we are not commenting on the names of the deceased as there is no investigative need to do so. We acknowledge the tragic nature of this case and our condolences go out to the affected families.”
Matharu was named in multiple media stories in India, which had interviewed her grieving family in her hometown of Chitti village near Lambra in Jalandhar.
“I received a call from the Canada police this morning (Sunday) saying that my daughter had been murdered,” said her father, Gurdial Singh Matharu, a photojournalist in Jalandhar, according to The Tribune in India. “They didn’t tell me anything else. My daughter had completed her studies and she was working at a cosmetic warehouse. She was on a full-time job. Her mother visited her there and returned just three months ago. We are in shock right now.”
He said his daughter had gone to Canada for her studies in 2016 and was scheduled to return to India in January. Her Facebook page says she attended Langara’s business management school.
Langara confirmed a student by that name had been enrolled in the school but wasn’t currently enrolled, said spokesman Mark Dawson in an email.
Her father told The Tribune that Prabhleen had been living in a rental complex where “many locals, Indians and Chinese” were also staying.
Her mother, Manjit, had visited her twice in Canada, and Prabhleen had returned to India for a visit in 2017.
Her father told the Darpan news agency that “she had no enemies.”
“My world has been shattered completely,” he said.
Matharu, 64, told The Hindustan Times that he was flying to Canada because “the Canadian police have refused to share anything with us over the phone and with our relatives there. They have asked me to come to get details.”
He also said his daughter had started working full-time this year and was sending money home to repay the loan for her education, which the family borrowed from relatives.
“She was happy and excited for she was to come home in January,” he said.