Pankaj Lamba, the 33-year-old Indian man accused of brutally strangling his 24-year-old wife Harshita Brella in the UK, managed to flee back to India and openly run a small snack and vegetable shop in Delhi for months while being one of Britain’s most wanted fugitives. The couple, both originally from Delhi, had moved to the UK only months before the horrific murder took place in November 2024.

Harshita’s body was discovered stuffed in the boot of a car in Ilford, East London on November 14, 2024, but police believe she was actually killed four days earlier in Corby, Northamptonshire. Lamba allegedly raped, sexually assaulted, and strangled her before fleeing the country within hours. Despite being charged in absentia with murder, rape, and controlling behaviour in March 2025, he lived freely near his childhood home, often keeping his face covered and seen with a mysterious woman and a young child.

Eyewitnesses say Lamba suddenly shut down his shop in April 2025 after his former school teacher Sunil Saini met him one last time. “He came to say goodbye and offered me restaurant equipment, saying he was leaving town,” Saini revealed. Days later the store turned into an egg shop and Lamba vanished again – just as British detectives were closing in and had travelled to India in July to return Harshita’s belongings to her devastated family.

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Harshita’s heartbroken mother Sudesh Kumari and sister Sonia Dabas have accused both the UK and Indian governments of abandoning the case. They revealed Harshita had reported domestic violence weeks before her murder, yet Lamba was released on bail and the restrictions expired exactly one month before he killed her. “That’s when he realised he could get away with murder,” Sonia said bitterly. Four Northamptonshire Police officers are now under investigation for their shocking handling of the abuse complaint.

A year after the murder, Pankaj Lamba remains on the run while Harshita’s family begs for justice. “Why has her killer not been caught yet?” her mother cries. As British police return to India hunting clues, the question everyone is asking is chilling: how many more lives will this monster destroy before he’s finally brought to justice?

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