Tragic stabbing death in Indian-American family in Queens, fundraising to send body back to Punjab

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An Indian-American man confessed to police that he had stabbed his cousin to death Monday (June 26), though the motives are not yet clear.

A New York Daily News report says Sharanjit Singh was stabbed by his cousin and roommate Lovedeep Singh in the early hours of that morning, at a home in Queens and could not be revived after being taken to the hospital.

A Gofundme page has already been started to help Singh’s family in India bring him back to bury him in his home in Punjab, according to the Facebook site of Daily Sikh Updates. and the GoFundMe page. (https://www.gofundme.com/sending-a-loved-ones-body-back-home). By June 28, $11,613 of a target of $20,000 had been raised.

Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told Daily News Lovedeep Singh, the cousin, made a statement to police. “I’m guilty, I’m the one who killed him,” Boyce quoted Lovedeep Singh saying. The 24-year old is being held on murder and weapons charges without bail, according to the news report.

The victim’s friend and ‘cousin-in-law’ Barjinder Singh, has started the GoFundMe page which has details about the 26-year old Sharanjit Singh.

Coming from a small town in India four years ago looking for opportunities to help his parents at home, the page says the young man was hardworking and loved to drive, and had lived in London, U.K. before moving to the U.S.. While alive, he drove multiple cab hailing services for the last 6 months since he got his driver’s license.

‘Sharan was kind hearted and always willing to help anyone in need. He was always happy and not confrontational. He tried to do his best to help his family back in India. He worked hard and long hours and barely stayed home,” the GoFundMe profile developed by his friend Barjinder Singh says.

He was living with his cousins with whom he had good relations, according to the profile, and would never have suspected Lovedeep Singh of harming him. His Facebook page is still online but content from some pages may have been removed. However, it contains heartbreaking selfies of him and family/friends engaged in social activities, in a restaurant or elsewhere.

The victim has a twin brother in London and an older brother in India and a large extended family. His immediate family is attempting to procure a visa to come to the U.S. and take his body back.

“We are planning on sending Sharan back home so his parents, brothers and close ones can see him one last time. We are currently waiting for an autopsy to be completed,” the site says. Friends and relatives are planning a viewing service in the coming days.

Barjinder Singh says he has been a close friend of the victim since he came to the U.S. and before. “Sharanjit and I are from same districts back in Punjab, India. We have strong family ties both in India and US,” Barjinder Singh says, and they stayed in close touch and hung out ‘numerous times’, the most recent being 3 weeks before his untimely death.

“Sharanjit’s cousin Vikramjit (my brother-in-law) and I are actively working with the detectives, funeral home, and other family members to make sure everything is taken care of in a timely manner,” Barjinder Singh says on the site.  And they are constantly in touch with Sharanjit’s parents and siblings.