Australian police offer $633,000 reward for Indian suspect

CANBERRA (AP): Australian police offered a 1 million Australian dollar ($633,000) reward on Thursday for information on the whereabouts of an Indian national who is suspected of murdering a woman on a tropical beach four years ago before returning to his homeland.

Queensland 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 where Rajwinder Singh, 38, can be found, Detective Inspector Sonia Smith said.

Singh was a nurse working at Innisfail, south of Cairns, when the body of 24-year-old Toyah Cordingley was found on Wangetti Beach on Monday, Oct. 22, 2018.

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

Singh flew from Cairns to Sydney the day Cordingley’s body was found and left for India the following day, police said.

The reward is the largest in Queensland’s history and unique in that it does not seek a clue that solves a crime and leads to a successful prosecution. Instead, the money is offered for information that leads only to a suspect’s location and arrest.

Police Minister Mark Ryan approved the reward and was confident people knew where 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,” Ryan said.

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

Deputy Police Commissioner Tracy Lindford said detectives believed Singh remained in India. She appealed for witnesses among India’s population of 1.4 billion people to come forward and “give some respite to the family who miss Toyah.”

Three Queensland detectives were already in India working with Indian authorities on the investigation, Smith said.