Sitting on the fringes of a boating lake she knew her daughter loved, Sudesh Kamari never thought she would finally be here under such terrible circumstances.
This corner of Corby, Northamptonshire is a picture of English serenity – the silence only interrupted by bird song or the odd ripple of children’s laughter. But for the family of Harshita Brella, it carries a heavier atmosphere.
For just yards away is the spot where the 24-year-old was seen alive for the last time, on CCTV, at 6.30pm on November 10, 2024.
Within hours, if not minutes, of that haunting clip being captured, she is believed to have been strangled by her husband Pankaj Lamba, who is suspected of then dumping her body in the boot of a car 100 miles away in east London, before fleeing to his home country of India.
He has never been caught.
Now, 18 months on from her murder, Ms Brella’s family have made the long journey to the UK from India to demand justice and try to break what they view as maddening inaction by the UK and Indian authorities.
The visit also offers a chance for them to pay their respects at spots of significance in the town, including where Ms Brella was last seen – the boating lake.
Wiping away tears, a picture of her daughter clutched tightly in her hands, her mother Sudesh, 49, says: ‘In my conversations she would say “mummy, I will bring you over here”. I was hoping to come to meet her in better circumstances.
Harshita Brella’s family have come to the UK to demand justice – as her sister and parents, holding a picture of their daughter, visit the lake in Corby where she was last seen alive
Ms Brella was last seen on November 10, 2024, before she was then believed to have been strangled by her husband Pankaj Lamba
‘I never anticipated that I would travel to Corby in these tragic circumstances, so I feel sad about coming here without her.’
She is joined on the trip by Ms Brella’s father Satbir Brella, 54, sister Sonia Dabas, 30, and Sonia’s two young children. Her sister is wearing Ms Brella’s coat, shoes and watch as she looks over the lake.
‘She was always talking about the lake, she hung out here always,’ Ms Dabas says.
‘I feel as if she’s here, that she will come here and say “sister, nice to see you”, but this is just my imagination.
‘She is here. I can feel her.’
The family then travel a few minutes around the corner, where they are overcome with emotion as they find themselves standing in front of the house where Lamba had lived with his wife.
It is here that he is thought to have carried out the killing.
By a tree, her family tearfully leaves a bouquet of flowers, with a note that reads: ‘We promise to fight for you to get justice, we can’t forget you, Harshita.’
The family have many, many questions for Northamptonshire Police, not only over their failure to apprehend Ms Brella’s killer, but for not preventing the murder in the first place.
Just weeks before she died, Ms Brella had reported her husband to police for domestic abuse and moved into a women’s shelter.
Lamba was arrested and later released on bail on the condition not to harass, pester or intimidate her. But the Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPO) expired four weeks later, on October 1.
The family lay flowers at Ms Brella’s house with a note that reads: ‘We promise to fight for you to get justice, we can’t forget you, Harshita.’
Sonia Dabas said it feels like her sister Harshita is there, as if ‘she will come here and say “sister, nice to see you”’
Pankaj Lamba had been charged in his absence with Ms Brella’s murder
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) announced last year that four police officers should face misconduct proceedings over their handling of the abuse allegations, including two detective constables who are said to have a case to answer for gross misconduct.
Mr Brella said: ‘We thought the police in Britain were much better, but they have behaved in a most irresponsible manner, they let us down twice.
‘I had an impression that Britain is a very safe and secure society and everywhere it’s safe, but after visiting the house where my daughter was living, I could get a sense that it wasn’t a very safe place.
‘The job of the police is to catch the culprit and if they have not done it, it’s a failure for them.’
He added: ‘Harshita had a lot of dreams about life, she wanted to live and she had hardly lived her life, so it is my duty to get her justice.’
He also believes the family have not been taken seriously by authorities because their daughter was not a British citizen.
Ms Brella, an Indian national, had come to the UK in February 2024 on a dependent visa, a few months after her husband had arrived to undertake a one-year diploma in management.
Northamptonshire Police are due to meet with the family next week.
Detectives have faced an uphill struggle to bring Ms Brella’s killer to justice since the moment her body was discovered in a Vauxhall Corsa in Ilford, east London, on November 14, 2024.
The three days she lay hidden provided enough time for Lamba to flee to his hometown of Gurgaon, India, and transform an otherwise routine murder investigation into an international manhunt.
His murderous act had been the sickening crescendo of months of abuse, but there was also apparently a more cynical motivation at play – he was plotting to start a new life with an ex-lover.
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Lamba was said to have contacted Madhu Pandey from his hometown within hours of the killing, telling her to ‘be ready to live with him’.
Mr Brella said he believed money was also behind his daughter’s killing, as his family had paid Lamba’s family a dowry as a condition of their marriage in India – but said Lamba continued to pester him for more and more cash, despite having already taken control of Ms Brella’s finances in the UK.
The Crown Prosecution Service announced in March last year that Lamba, then 23, had been charged in his absence with Ms Brella’s murder, as well as rape, sexual assault, and controlling or coercive behaviour.
Ms Brella’s family are being supported in the UK by the Northamptonshire Rights and Equality Council. Chief executive Anjona Roy said: ‘This case raises serious concerns about how domestic abuse cases are handled and highlights the risks faced by women, particularly those who may be isolated or new to the UK.
‘Systems must do better to protect those at risk.’
Northamptonshire Police said in a statement this week: ‘The investigation into Harshita’s death is ongoing and we remain as determined as ever to bring the person responsible for her death to justice.
‘It is an exceptionally complex case and with criminal proceedings active in the UK, we are unable to go into detail about the investigation at this time.’
