Inquest for Harshita Brella to take place next year as manhunt continues

An inquest has been opened into the death of 24-year-old Harshita Brella, whose body was found in a car boot after it is believed she was strangled.

Senior coroner Anne Pember opened the hearing at Northampton Coroner’s Court on Wednesday and adjourned the inquest to May 21 next year.

Ms Pember said: “I open an inquest touching on the death of Harshita Brella, a 24-year-old lady found in a vehicle in Ilford.

“The East Midlands Special Operations Major Crime Unit have informed me that Harshita was murdered at her home in Corby by her husband Pankaj Lamba. Her husband is then believed to have fled the country.”

Ms Pember added that the preliminary cause of death has been given as manual strangulation, pending further test results.

She told the hearing that the body has not yet been released.

An international manhunt was launched after Ms Brella’s body was found in a silver Vauxhall Corsa parked in Brisbane Road, Ilford, in the early hours of Thursday.

Northamptonshire Police detectives believe she was murdered in Corby on the evening of November 10 before her body was driven to Ilford in the car boot the next day.

Police released new CCTV images of the prime suspect of her killing, her husband Pankaj Lamba, 23, in east London after he is thought to have killed her and abandoned her body in the vehicle.

A post-mortem examination carried out at Leicester Royal Infirmary on Friday gave the preliminary cause of death as strangulation, police said.

A neighbour has said she heard two blistering rows, involving one where a woman “sounded scared”, days before Ms Brella’s body was found.

A police spokesman confirmed Ms Brella had previously been the victim of domestic violence and was made the subject of a domestic violence protection order (DVPO) at Northampton Magistrates’ Court in September.

Ms Brella’s parents, speaking from India, told BBC News they “want justice” after their daughter’s death.

Sonia Dabas, Ms Brella’s sister, said the family “thought something was wrong” by November 13 after her phone was off for two days, and asked people to file a complaint.

Northamptonshire Police have made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) because of previous contact with Ms Brella.

Anyone who may have information is asked to call police on 101 quoting Operation Westcott or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.