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Firstly, on behalf of Northamptonshire Police, I would like to express my deepest and heartfelt condolences to Harshita’s family and friends, and to everyone who knew and loved her.
Harshita was a young woman in her early 20s, with her whole life ahead of her and everything to live for, and it is absolutely tragic that her life has been cut short in this way.
A murder investigation was launched after the body of a woman, who we have now named as Harshita, was found in a car in east London. This finding came about after we received a call on Wednesday, November 13, regarding concerns for Harshita’s welfare.
Officers were deployed to her home address in Skegness Walk, Corby, and after getting no answer, a missing person investigation was launched.
Fast-track enquiries were made which sadly led to the discovery of a woman’s body inside the boot of a vehicle in Brisbane Road in the Ilford area of London, in the early hours of Thursday, November 14.
A forensic postmortem examination, which took place at Leicester Royal Infirmary on Friday, November 15, established that Harshita had been murdered.
Officers and detectives from the East Midlands Special Operations Major Crime Unit and Northamptonshire Police, working with colleagues from the Metropolitan Police, have been working around the clock to establish the circumstances behind Harshita’s death, including the exact location and timeframe in which it took place.
We have followed a number of lines of investigation and carried out numerous inquiries and we are now able to provide a further update.
Our inquiries lead us to suspect that Harshita was murdered in Northamptonshire earlier this month by her husband Pankaj Lamba. We suspect Lamba transported Harshita’s body from Northamptonshire to Ilford by car. We believe he has now fled the country. We are releasing an image of Pankaj Lamba with this statement.
More than 60 detectives are working on the case and are continuing to follow numerous lines of inquiry, including house to house, property searches, CCTV and ANPR. We are of course continuing to appeal for any information that will help us piece together exactly what happened as we work to get justice for Harshita.
I urge anyone listening to or reading this statement, that if you saw anything suspicious in the past week or have any information, no matter how small, please contact us. We would always rather receive well-meaning information that turns out to be nothing as opposed to not receiving it all.
While we are satisfied there is no wider risk to the public, we understand how shocking and distressing such an incident can be for the local community. Our Neighbourhood officers will continue to provide additional patrols in Corby in the coming days for reassurance, and anyone with any concerns is welcome to approach one of these officers who will be happy to help.
Anyone who has any information that could help detectives bring Harshita’s killer to justice, can contact the incident room by calling 101, quoting incident number Operation Westcott.
Alternatively information can be submitted via our online public portal at www.mipp.police.uk or by call Crimestoppers, in confidence, on 0800 555111.
Thank you for your support and assistance in helping us bring Harshita’s killer to justice, and we will provide further updates when we can.