ISSUE
Friday, August 15, 2025
Volume 16 . Issue 72
A young Indian family’s dream of a new life in New Zealand came to a tragic end at the Queen’s Birthday weekend as the wife and child of Tauranga based taxi driver Dev Sangha were found dead in their own home.
Mr Sangha had only in the previous days left for India leaving his wife Ravneet and two year old daughter Anna in the care of a man who the family seems to have known and who has now been charged with the murder of the mother and daughter, according to Mr Sangha’s friend quoted in the media.
Police have said further charges were likely.
Auckland based Sikh leader Daljit Singh, also a spokesman for the family, said the accused was a man they trusted. "This was the reason why he went to India, because he felt his wife and daughter were safe in his care ... they just could never believe he could do something like that," he told the New Zealand Herald.
Mr Sangha’s mother Swaran Kaur, older brother Harvinder Sangha and work colleagues met the 37-year-old distraught father and husband at Auckland airport when he returned from India on Tuesday.
He spent several hours talking to police about his wife and daughter's deaths, breaking down soon after leaving Auckland Central police station.
Earlier, his wife’s body was found in their Otumoetai home on Sunday after a tip-off received by the Counties Manukau police. But the body of daughter Anna was found only some 20 hours later as according to the police it was found “concealed” in the house. They had scoured the neighbouring areas including the reserves that border the home.
It is understood the 23-year-old man who has been charged had been studying business in Auckland and was seeking permanent residence in New Zealand.
Friends, colleagues have described Dev and Ravneet Sangha as a quiet, hardworking couple working to save money so they could fulfill their dream of opening a cricket academy. Mr Sangha, a friend of well known former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu, captained the social cricket team.
Mrs Sangha had occasionally worked for the taxi company that her husband worked for as a driver. But she had more recently worked picking kiwifruit for a pack house.
Mr Sangha had been robbed while at work earlier this year in March.
A young Indian family’s dream of a new life in New Zealand came to a tragic end at the Queen’s Birthday weekend as the wife and child of Tauranga based taxi driver Dev Sangha were found dead in their own home.
Mr Sangha had only in the previous days left for India leaving his wife Ravneet and two...
A young Indian family’s dream of a new life in New Zealand came to a tragic end at the Queen’s Birthday weekend as the wife and child of Tauranga based taxi driver Dev Sangha were found dead in their own home.
Mr Sangha had only in the previous days left for India leaving his wife Ravneet and two year old daughter Anna in the care of a man who the family seems to have known and who has now been charged with the murder of the mother and daughter, according to Mr Sangha’s friend quoted in the media.
Police have said further charges were likely.
Auckland based Sikh leader Daljit Singh, also a spokesman for the family, said the accused was a man they trusted. "This was the reason why he went to India, because he felt his wife and daughter were safe in his care ... they just could never believe he could do something like that," he told the New Zealand Herald.
Mr Sangha’s mother Swaran Kaur, older brother Harvinder Sangha and work colleagues met the 37-year-old distraught father and husband at Auckland airport when he returned from India on Tuesday.
He spent several hours talking to police about his wife and daughter's deaths, breaking down soon after leaving Auckland Central police station.
Earlier, his wife’s body was found in their Otumoetai home on Sunday after a tip-off received by the Counties Manukau police. But the body of daughter Anna was found only some 20 hours later as according to the police it was found “concealed” in the house. They had scoured the neighbouring areas including the reserves that border the home.
It is understood the 23-year-old man who has been charged had been studying business in Auckland and was seeking permanent residence in New Zealand.
Friends, colleagues have described Dev and Ravneet Sangha as a quiet, hardworking couple working to save money so they could fulfill their dream of opening a cricket academy. Mr Sangha, a friend of well known former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu, captained the social cricket team.
Mrs Sangha had occasionally worked for the taxi company that her husband worked for as a driver. But she had more recently worked picking kiwifruit for a pack house.
Mr Sangha had been robbed while at work earlier this year in March.
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