Australia offers $1m reward for help tracking Indian man suspected of murdering woman on beach

Rajwinder Singh, 38, is suspected of murdering 24-year-old Toyah Cordingley

Police in Australia have announced a reward of one million Australian dollar (around £556,710.17) for information on the whereabouts of an Indian national who is suspected of murdering a woman in the country before returning to his homeland.

Police in Queensland said that they are waiting for information from India on Rajwinder Singh, 38, who is suspected of murdering 24-year-old Toyah Cordingley who was found on Wangetti Beach on 22 October 2018.

Detective Inspector Sonia Smith said state police officers who speak Hindi and Punjabi are waiting in an office in Cairns to be contacted from India via WhatsApp or online about Mr Singh’s whereabouts.

Approving the reward, which is the highest in Queensland’s history, Police Minister Mark Ryan said he was confident people knew where Mr Singh could be found.

“We know that people know this person, they know where this person is and we’re asking those people to do the right thing,” he was quoted as saying.

“Now, there is a million reasons for a billion eyes around the world to help us deliver justice for Toyah.”

Mr Singh was working as a nurse at Innisfail, south of Cairns, when Cordingley’s body was found.

She had gone to the beach, north of Cairns, to walk her dog the day before.

Police said that Mr Singh flew from Cairns to Sydney the day after her body was found and left for India the following day.

Along with being the highest in the state’s history, the reward on Mr Singh is also unique in that it is being offered for information that leads only to a suspect’s location and arrest.

According to deputy police commissioner Tracy Lindford, three Queensland investigators are already in India, working with local authorities.

She said that detectives believed Mr Singh remained in India and appealed for witnesses in India to come forward and “give some respite to the family who miss Toyah”.

Last year in March authorities in Australia applied to India for his extradition but he could not be found.

Australian government has also been pursuing for 13 years the extradition of Indian national Puneet Puneet, 33, who was drunk-driving a car and speeding when he hit and killed a pedestrian and injured another person in downtown Melbourne in 2008.

(Additional reporting by agencies)