Student dies after being snatched from work and buried alive by ex-boyfriend
Jasmeen Kaur was desperate to move on from her failed relationship – but her ex, Tarikjot Singh, wasn’t willing to let her go. They were both born in India but lived in Adelaide, South Australia. Singh, 21, was in the country on a student visa, studying IT, while nursing student Jasmeen, also 21, worked in a care home for the elderly.
The pair dated for nine months in 2020, but Jasmeen was not happy. Singh was controlling, telling her whom she could and couldn’t spend time with and if she was out, he’d call her and demand she return home. Jasmeen ended their relationship on 4 January 2021.
Singh didn’t take it well and at the end of that month, Jasmeen complained to the police that her “over-possessive” ex had been stalking her at her workplace. She said he was unhappy about their break-up and he had “stated that I had to be with him or if not, he would attempt suicide”.
The day after the split, he’d appeared at her workplace in the suburb of North Plympton. She saw him through a window and went out
to ask him to leave. He was still there later in the day. On another occasion he followed her home in his car.
Singh continued to call Jasmeen, threatening to harm himself. He sent TikTok videos they’d made to her family and threatened to send more. In February 2021, the police issued him with a caution for stalking Jasmeen. On 5 March that year, Jasmeen worked into the evening, finally leaving at 10pm. But she didn’t reappear for work the following day and her vehicle was still in the car park.
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The police appealed for information, saying, “We believe it to be extremely unlikely that Jasmeen left willingly with anybody and are investigating the possibility that she was taken by force.” The police attention soon turned to Singh. They discovered that on 4 March, the day before Jasmeen’s last shift, he had downloaded a map of security camera positions in Adelaide.
Police at the burial site in Flinders RangesHe’d swapped cars with a friend and had been to hardware store Bunnings on the day Jasmeen vanished. CCTV footage showed him casually strolling around the store, where he bought cable ties, tape, gloves, a jerrycan and a shovel. Concern for Jasmeen’s safety grew and the police questioned Singh. He’d been due to work a shift at a pub on the night that Jasmeen disappeared, but had asked a friend to cover it for him instead.
Singh insisted he hadn’t seen Jasmeen recently, but evidence suggested he’d been acting in a manner that was unusual for him. Security footage from 5 March showed him heading north in the blue car he’d borrowed. While nobody else appeared to be in the car, officers believe he had abducted Jasmeen as she left work and either shut her in the boot or kept her restrained in the back.
At this point Singh changed his story. He claimed Jasmeen had taken her own life and he’d buried her in mountains known as the Flinders Ranges, north of Hawker, nearly 250 miles away. He was charged with failing to report a death and agreed to take the police to the burial site.
On 7 March he led them to a shallow grave in the mountain range near Moralana Creek, about 25 miles north of Hawker. Jasmeen’s body was found under 30cm of sand. Her hands were tied behind her back with a cable tie, her feet were taped and restrained with more cable ties and she’d been blindfolded. Her throat had been cut, too, although the wound was superficial. In a nearby bin Jasmeen’s shoes, glasses and work badge were discovered, along with more cable ties.
A post-mortem revealed she had died, probably on 6 March, from “actively breathing in and swallowing soil”. The young woman
had been bound, blindfolded and buried alive. The charges against Singh were then upgraded to murder.
Killer Tarikjot Singh was jailed for lifeJasmeen’s distraught friends and family held a memorial service during which she was remembered as “polite, kind-hearted and helpful”. It was revealed that they had known her by her nickname of Jasoo and remembered her for her big smile. Trees were planted close to where she was found and her body was flown home to India for burial. In February this year, a month before Singh was due to face trial, he changed his plea to guilty. He didn’t reveal how he had abducted Jasmeen from her workplace, or exactly what he’d done to her afterwards.
At the South Australian Supreme Court in August, Singh, now 23, was jailed for life and told he must serve 22 years and 10 months before being considered for parole. He is likely to be deported on release. His lawyers had asked for a merciful sentence for what they described as a crime of passion. The prosecution, however, argued that Jasmeen had suffered “an uncommon level of cruelty” which had been planned beforehand. Singh had bought supplies before the abduction and appeared to ask a shop assistant for help. He’d then driven with her in the car for about five hours, which was plenty of time to either let her go or change his plans.
Jasmeen’s mother, Rashpal Kaur, travelled from India to Adelaide to face her daughter’s killer in court, where her impact statement was read out. “She spent her last hour on this earth with the very worst of humanity,” the statement read. “How could he value a life so cheaply? I’m incandescent with rage… You treated my daughter as if she were nothing and disposed of her as rubbish.”
Rashpal said Singh had been obsessed with Jasmeen, who had rejected his marriage proposals and reconciliation pleas. She added the thought of Jasmeen’s final hours continues to haunt her. The judge, Justice Adam Kimber, said the killing was “horrific and callous” in the extreme. He said Singh had wanted to punish Jasmeen for rejecting him and for going to the police to complain about his stalking.
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“I am unable to find words to adequately describe how Ms Kaur must have felt when you placed her in the grave and buried her,” he said. “I cannot describe the terror Ms Kaur must have been experiencing when she realised you were burying her alive.”
Jasmeen had been due to return to India for the first time in three years for a family reunion. Instead, she was sent back home in a coffin.
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