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Man kills wife in apartment blaze

The man who entered Desvinder Kaur's apartment when she was away, who patiently waited until she arrived before setting the suburban Toronto home ablaze, committing murder and suicide in the same fell swoop, was her ex-husband, Canadian police have revealed.

The badly burned body of Harbhajah Singh, 32, was identified by Peel Regional Police in the aftermath of the early morning May 1 fire. Although Singh was quickly pulled out of the apartment by the building landlord, he died at Toronto's Sunnybrooke hospital hours later. Kaur, 26, could not be reached by rescuers and died of smoke immolation, police said.

Detective Barb Maple would not comment on the homicide, citing the investigation. However, the authorities revealed key details of the incident in a press release.

"It appears the male waited for the female, when she arrived home," the police noted. "He entered her basement apartment and she began screaming. Moments later, the upstairs landlord called out to the victim and was unable to gain entry into the basement apartment via a connecting door."

According to the landlord, John Hall, Singh prevented Kaur from fleeing the burning building.

"She was on the bed, flat out, kind of fighting," Hall told Canadian papers. "He was standing over her, at the foot of the bed, keeping her in that room. He was blocking her from coming out and blocking me from getting in. I guess when he figured the fire was big enough he stepped out, but he was already ablaze. I kept putting him out several times, but he kept blazing up again."

Kaur and Singh had divorced in January 2000. According to Canadian press reports, the incident occurred after Kaur's new boyfriend, Satinder, left for work. Kaur's family said the couple parted ways because of their turbulent relationship.

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