Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann expressed condolences over the death of an Indian-origin family, who were found dead in California, a few days after they were abducted at gunpoint earlier this week in the US state.
In a Twitter post on Thursday, Mann also made an appeal to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to conduct a high-level inquiry into the death of the family who had origins in the state of Punjab.
"There was news of kidnapping and murder of four Indians in California, in which an 8-month-old girl has also been murdered. Very sad to hear this news. I share my grief with the families of the victims... and also appeal to the Union Minister of External Affairs @DrSJaishankar to conduct a high-level inquiry into the matter," CM Mann tweeted.
The Punjab CM's request came shortly after Merced county police informed that the Indian-origin family, including an eight-month-old baby girl, were found dead in an orchard in California.
The bodies of four members of the family, who originally hail from Punjab in India were discovered lying close to each other by a farm worker in a remote orchard in Merced county, Sheriff Vern Warnke said on Wednesday.
"Tonight our worse fears have been confirmed," the Sheriff said addressing a press conference. "We found four people from the kidnapping. They are in fact deceased," Sheriff Vern Warnke said.
"The family (of the victims) have been notified. We have made arrangements through other contacts to try and get them," he said. The police will process the scene of crime to determine the motive for the killings, he said.
The Sheriff described it as a "horribly senseless" act and said that the police did not know the "motivation yet." "We have a whole family wiped out and for what? We don't know yet," he said.
36-year-old Jasdeep Singh, 27-year-old Jasleen Kaur, their eight-month-old child Aroohi Dheri, along with 39-year-old Amandeep Singh were abducted, police said.
The news of the missing family was reported on Monday after local authorities found the missing victims' truck on fire in a rural area outside the Merced County.
A surveillance video that was released by the Twitter handle of the Merced County Sheriff's office showed the suspect leading Jasdeep Singh who was carrying baby Aroohi in his arms into a truck and driving away.
( With inputs from ANI )
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