The family of a woman found dead in a car boot in east London have accused police of not doing enough to protect her, saying she had filed a complaint alleging domestic abuse by her husband weeks before.
The body of Harshita Brella, a 24-year-old Indian citizen who was living in Northamptonshire, was discovered last Thursday in a car in Ilford. Police have named her husband, Pankaj Lamba, as the main suspect for the killing. Officers believe he has fled the country.
A postmortem found Brella died of strangulation, and Northamptonshire police released images of a silver Vauxhall Corsa they believe Lamba used to transport her body, and urged anyone with information “no matter how small” to come forward.
Brella was born in Delhi and had only moved to the UK in April, after her marriage to Lamba in August 2023.
Speaking from the family home in Delhi, her elder sister Sonia Dabas said: “I believe the police did not do enough to help her or protect my sister. She was very innocent, so kindhearted but just a kid really. She reported her abuse but the police processes just made her feel even more scared and alone. It drove her back to Pankaj.”
She said her sister had faced difficulties in her marriage from the moment she arrived in the UK.
The marriage had been arranged, and Brella had only met her husband for three days before moving with him to the UK.
According to Dabas, her sister told her that the domestic abuse continued for several months and on 28 August Brella fled their house in Corby, Northamptonshire, in the early hours , and sought help from a colleague.
She allegedly went to the police the next morning, where according to her family she filed charges against Lamba, alleging domestic abuse and mental torture.
The family said the police had taken Brella into a hotel and then protective accommodation. However, she had described being put in a facility on her own and the family allege she was given no additional support or counselling. During this time her sister said Brella suffered a miscarriage.
Sonia Dabas (left) and her father, Satbir Brella, at their home in Delhi. Photograph: Aakash Hassan/The Guardian
“It was dark and empty in the place they put her and she was so scared that she would call me even when she was going to the bathroom,” said Dabas. “She told me that she felt like police were treating her like the criminal even though she was the victim.”
A spokesperson for Northamptonshire police said in a statement: “This tragic case will in due course become the subject of a domestic homicide review, in which all police actions relating to it will be fully scrutinised, so it would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this time.”
According to the family, Brella felt completely isolated after filing her case and had eventually resumed contact with Lamba, though they were still living apart. On the final night she spoke to her sister, on the Sunday before her body was discovered, Brella told her family she was cooking for Lamba. “She was in good spirits when she called me, she seemed happy and said that Pankaj was coming over for dinner,” said Dabas.
Yet by the following Wednesday, after the family was unable to reach Brella, they first attempted to contact Lamba and later got through to the police, where they registered a complaint. On Friday morning, police called her father in Delhi, Satbir Brella, to say they had discovered a body they believed to be Brella’s but gave few details. He was later informed she was found in a suitcase in the boot of a car in London, almost 100 miles from where she had been living.
Dabas, who described her sister as a “gentle soul who would not even hurt insects”, said the family would continue to fight for justice and answers from the UK police. “This is not just Harshita’s murder, it is the murder of me and my mother and my father. We are nothing without her,” she said.
For Satbir Brella, his main priority is to bring the body of his daughter home to perform the traditional funeral rituals. However, so far neither Northamptonshire police nor the Indian embassy have helped in their inquiries about repatriation.
“It is terrible for us that she is alone over there,” he said. “We are in so much pain knowing we do not even have her body to perform our rituals and bring her peace. All we want is to have her back with us.”
In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org.
∎