By Mata Press Service

For the 89th time in 16 years, Vancouver businessman Sanjay Goel is making a trek to India to seek justice for his murdered mother.

“I am hoping and praying that the justice system in India will not delay the case any longer,” said Goel, before his departure to Mumbai, for a trial management conference scheduled before Additional Sessions Judge N. T. Ghadge on Monday Jan 13 at 11.15 am.

“I have been working for 16 years to get justice for my mother who was murdered in India,” said Goel.

“As much as we want see justice done for my mother, we also want the accused to have their day in court.”

Goel’s mother, Dr. Asha Goel, a 62-year-old Canadian obstetrician from Orangeville, Ont. was stabbed and bludgeoned to death at her family's ancestral home in August of 2003.

An obstetrician and gynaecologist of 40 years, who also practiced in Saskatchewan, Dr. Goel delivered more than 10,000 babies in Canada.

Her murder came in the midst of a bitter dispute over a $10 million family inheritance that had pitted her against her brothers.

“She was trying to broker peace among her brothers and was killed because of it,” said Goel.

Indian police believe that four assassins were hired by Dr. Goel’s warring brothers - Suresh and Subhash Agrawal - to kill their sister and make it look like a suicide.

Suresh, who was based in India died in November 2003. Subhash Agrawal lives as a Canadian citizen in the Toronto area, denies his involvement in the murder and describes the police allegations against him in court documents as "a vilification campaign."

Indian police originally arrested one of the suspected assassins about a month after Dr. Goel’s murder, but the case was inexplicably dropped.

“We were outraged on learning this and got the filed transferred to the Mumbai Crime Branch in January 2004, which is an elite investigations unit,” said Goel, president of the Vancouver-based holiday company, Cruise Connections Canada.

In Sept. 2005, the suspect Pradeep Parab, in a confession recorded by a magistrate, said the dead brother, Suresh Agrawal, hired him to kill.

He also identified his accomplices as P.K. Goenka, M. Shinde and Narenda Goel (no relation to the victim). After police charged them, they listed the Canada-based brother Subhash Agrawal as a "wanted accused."

Pradeep Parab has turned state witness after providing the  written confession while another of the accused, M. Shinde, has died.

“Two of the key accused have died and I have been told some of the evidence has gone missing…if we don’t get to trial soon, we may never get justice,” said Goel.

“I have been trying for 16 years but I can’t get any help from the Canadian government to investigate or act on Subhash Agrawal who remains in the Toronto area,” said Goel.

“They keep saying it’s an Indian case and out of their hands despite him being listed by Interpol as wanted for murder.”

"My mother was Canadian, she was a proud Canadian…she was a defender of the health-care system and an advocate for women…but I can’t get any help from Canada to solve her murder.”

Subhash Agrawal who remains listed on the Interpol Red Notice website maintains he is willing to talk to investigators in Canada but not in a custodial environment in India.

Goel’s crusade to get justice for his mother is reminiscent of another long running Canada-India murder case involving the contract-killing of Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu, a beautician from Maple Ridge in British Columbia.

Sidhu aka ‘Jassi’, 25, was killed in Punjab, India, in June 2000 after she defied her family to marry the man she loved – a poor rickshaw driver from her ancestral village.

Within days, Indian police arrested the assassins, who they said were hired by Jassi’s mother and uncle, living in Canada.

It took 18 years, several court cases in Canada, three documentaries, a made-for-TV movie, a website called justiceforjassi.com and a book, Justice for Jassi, before the pair was extradited to India on Jan. 25, 2019 to make their first appearance in a court in Malerkotla, Punjab.

Legal experts said the Dr. Goel and Jassi murder cases are among dozens of “NRI (Non-Resident Indian) contract killings” organised by culprits who believe that India cannot extradite them, according to a report in the Vancouver-based South Asian Post.

According to the report, in many of the cases, poorly paid Indian policemen play a role in the killings or help cover-up evidence after getting paid in overseas dollars.

In most cases, broken marriages, illicit affairs and property disputes are the main reasons why NRIs are ordering people killed.

The money involved in each contract killing, according to police officials, is anything between C$5,000 to C$125,000, the paper reported.

 “NRIs sitting abroad think that they can get away with it by getting the crime committed in India through contract killers,” Jalandhar range deputy inspector general Narinder Pal Singh, was quoted as saying in the South Asian Post in the expose on the NRI contract killings.

Who’s who in the murder case of Dr. Asha Goel

Dr. Asha Goel, a Canadian obstetrician was found murdered at her family's ancestral home in the ritzy Malabar Hills area of Mumbai, India in August of 2003. She was trying to solve a dispute between her brothers over their parent’s $10-million estate.

Sanjay Goel is the Vancouver businessman and son of Dr. Asha Goel who has been fighting for the last 16 years to get justice for his murdered mother.

Suresh Agrawal: Dr. Goel’s brother in Mumbai, described as one of the architects of the murder. He died in November 2003.

Subhash Agrawal: Another of Dr. Goel’s brothers. He is a Toronto-area resident and Canadian citizen. Agrawal, who has denied the allegations, remains listed on the Interpol Red Notice website as wanted for murder in India.

Alleged hired killers charged in India

Pradeep Parab: Employee of Suresh Agrawal. (turned state witness)

Narendra Goel: Son-in-law of Suresh Agrawal (not related to Dr. Goel)

Manohar Shinde: Manager of one of Suresh Agrawal’s properties. (deceased)

Pawankumar Goenka: Subhash Agrawal’s property manager in India.