Rajwinder Singh, an Indian and the prime suspect in Toyah Cordingley murder case was arrested in India on Friday, 25 Nov by the Queensland Police in a high-profile joint exercise between the Australian and the Indian authorities.
Pharmacy worker and animal shelter volunteer Toyah Cordingley, 24, was killed while walking her dog on Wangetti Beach in October 2018. Her body was found the following morning by her father, The Guardian reported.
A $1 million reward had been announced to help nab an Indian man, who according to Queensland Police may have murdered an Australian woman on a beach before fleeing to India.
Three Queensland police detectives have travelled to India and are working with authorities to find Rajwinder Singh, 38, who worked as a nurse in Innisfail, but fled the country two days after the murder, leaving behind his job, wife and three children in Australia, news.com.au reported.
The Indian suspect was living in Innisfail, Queensland at the time of the Australian murder case but originally hailed from Buttar Kalan, Punjab, India.
An investigation centre had also been established in Cairns and police officers from across the state who can speak both Hindi and Punjabi had flown in, according to the police.
Police previously had released images of Singh at the Cairns Airport on October 23, 2018, from where he flew to Sydney before travelling to India.
In March 2021, local authorities made a request to extradite Singh, who is originally from Buttar Kalan, Punjab.
His brother-in-law Harpreet Singh previously told The Courier Mail that the timing of his return to his hometown of Amritsar in Punjab was a coincidence.
“Raj is not capable of murder… He is too quiet, too afraid. He was under a lot of tension from his work,” Harpreet Singh had said.
READ MORE: Extradition request sent to India for key suspect in murder of Cairns woman
