Sikh family, including 8-month-old, goes missing in America as prime suspect attempts suicide

California: Jesus Salgado, 48, holds the key to whereabouts of a missing Sikh family, including an eight-month-old baby, but he is lying is a hospital bed in critical condition.

As per Merced County Sheriff, the suspect was hospitalised after he tried to kill himself just as was to be arrested from his Central California home on Tuesday.

According to reports, Jasdeep Singh (36), his brother Amandeep Singh (39), his wife Jasleen Kaur (27) and eight-month-old Aroohi Dheri are missing since Monday night. They are originally from Harsi Pind in Hoshiarpur, Punjab.

The information about their missing came to light after police found Amandeep’s 2020 Dodge Ram pickup truck burning on the side of a country road. They were last seen on the gas station and convenience store they own in Merced.

The suspect Jesus Salgado was identified through a CCTV footage of an ATM machine where Jasdeep’s ATM card was used, the same night they had gone missing.

The said ATM booth is located in Atwater, a city about 14 km north of Merced, and the person is similar in appearance to the surveillance photo from the original kidnapping scene, Sheriff’s office said in a statement.

In the original scene, cops said, the family was kidnapped on the gunpoint.

Two still images of the suspect were released on Tuesday as cops asked for help in the search for the suspect. Hours later cops received information about one Salvado by his neighbor.

However, he tried to kill himself before police reached his home. The Sheriff’s Office have not shared any further details on this suspect.

Meanwhile, Jasdeep’s family back in India are in a state of shock. They are in a lot of grief, Naindeep Singh, local community leader in Central California told local media there. Singh is not related to the victims. He said the family has asked for privacy.

As of now, the cops fear the family might be dead and the kidnapper destroyed unspecified evidence in an attempt to cover his tracks.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement Tuesday that firefighters on Monday found a pickup truck belonging to Amandeep Singh that was on fire. Merced Police Department officers went to Amandeep Singh’s home where a family member tried to reach him and the couple. When they were not able to reach their family members, they called the Merced County Sheriff’s Office to report them missing, the office said.

The sheriff’s office said the FBI, the California Department of Justice, and other local law enforcement agencies are helping with the investigation.

(with inputs from agencies)

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