Delhi downfall: Inside amazing sting that captured Toyah’s alleged murderer
The fugitive suspected of the brutal murder of Queenslander Toyah Cordingley has been ambushed by police in an extraordinary end to a top-secret 20-month global sting. This is what happened.
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The fugitive suspected of the brutal murder of Toyah Cordingley was ambushed by police and arrested on his way to a New Delhi doctor’s appointment – in an extraordinary end to a top-secret 20-month global sting.
The Courier-Mail can reveal the astonishing inside story of how police trapped Rajwinder Singh 1495 days after he fled Australia for India – in what has been hailed as one of the most significant and extraordinary investigations in Queensland history.
Detectives discovered suspect bank card activity which led them to the Punjab area where the suspected killer was hiding, using a record million-dollar reward to flush him out from the protection of a local religious sect.
Singh is now expected to be charged with the 2018 murder of 24-year-old North Queensland woman Toyah Cordingley – who was brutally murdered while walking her dog along the picturesque Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns.
Singh, a nurse and father-of-three, on Friday night appeared briefly in the New Delhi Patiala House Court, telling The Courier-Mail he had no involvement in Toyah’s brutal murder.
Singh will now be held in judicial custody at New Delhi’s Tihar Jail.
“No,” he said. “Such a question gives me a panic attack.”
The Courier-Mail can reveal Queensland detectives approached the Australian Federal Police’s Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team in March 2021 to ask for help in tracking Singh down.
Indian-born Singh fled Australia on October 23 – the day after Toyah’s body was found in a shallow beach grave.
It is understood the team began actively looking for Singh from March 24 last year, after police in Australia approached various financial institutions to track bank activity both in Queensland and India.
This is believed to have provided police with a major breakthrough when they discovered bank cards belonging to members of the Singh family were being used in the Punjab area of India.
Police were able to determine that the owners of the bank accounts were still in Australia, despite money being withdrawn overseas.
Discussions around a reward began in June this year and involved police in Queensland, the AFP and India.
When the million-dollar windfall was announced at the start of this month, three detectives from Queensland were already on the ground in India, having arrived in the country on October 27.
It is understood solid leads did not start filtering in until after the QPS officers left India on November 8.
The first of those involved a member of the public contacting police, having taken a photograph of a man they said was Singh at a religious temple in Punjab.
But it is understood the publicity surrounding the reward forced Singh further into hiding and they were forced to wait for further information from members of the public.
That tip came on Thursday (Queensland time), when a person contacted police with information that Singh was being driven to a doctor’s appointment in New Delhi the following day.
It is understood police were provided with a photograph of Singh and a second photograph of Singh’s Queensland driver’s licence, which he had kept with him during his years on the run.
AFP officers in New Delhi contacted local police, who mobilised a team in under an hour to carry out the arrest.
The Courier-Mail has been told Indian police pulled over a car in which Singh was the passenger, having been also provided with the car’s registration.
Singh was said to have been arrested without incident but was in “shock” at having been discovered.
Investigators believe he was being sheltered by a religious group within a temple in Punjab.
But police suspect he spent most of his time on the run in the Amritsar area where he has family.
It is understood the remarkable operation was helped by relationships formed between AFP liaison officers in New Delhi and local authorities.
Toyah Cordingley was reported missing at 11pm on October 21, 2018, after failing to return from walking her dog at Wangetti beach.
Her body was found the following morning by her father Troy after friends and family went searching for her.
Toyah’s dog was found tied up nearby. The young pharmacy worker and animal shelter volunteer had been stabbed multiple times.
On the day Toyah’s body was found, Singh boarded a plane to Sydney, leaving behind his wife and three young children. He remained there overnight before flying out of the country the following morning.
Yesterday, Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said she had few details on the circumstances of Singh’s arrest and said she’d been made aware by the AFP several hours before addressing the media.
“The process will be followed in relation to the million dollars, however, if it has led to this person’s arrest, I will happily, happily, write out that cheque myself,” she said.
“It has been one of the most intense, comprehensive, across the world investigations over many years now.
“I definitely believe this will go down as another one of those famous police homicide investigations.
“It has been a long, determined investigation to date and I certainly thank them for that.
“Elation, and relief, sadness, happiness for the family but bittersweet sadness for the family.
“She will never come back.”
A statement released by the AFP said their close relationship with Indian Law Enforcement had allowed police from Australia to track Singh down.
“We hope that today’s arrest brings some closure to the victim’s family following an agonising four years of uncertainty,” AFP Commander Transnational Operations Richard Chin said.
Singh underwent a routine medical examination following his arrest before being placed in a police cell ahead of his court appearance.
Cordingley family spokesman Prong Trimble said news of the arrest came as a huge relief following tireless efforts to bring justice for Toyah.
“We got him,” he said.
“It makes me feel good … it’s been worthwhile and very satisfying. We said right from the start we would never give up, and we didn’t.
“The extradition order is already in place and he will be on his way very soon to face the music in Australia.”
Police were unable to provide details on how long an extradition process was expected to take.
Originally published as Delhi downfall: Inside amazing sting that captured Toyah’s alleged murderer
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