Silicon Valley: A Sikh man, awaiting trial in an honour killing case, has been slapped with a $15 million lawsuit in California's civil court by the victim's family.
Gurparkash Khalsa, 56, is in jail charged with killing Ajmer Hothi, 23, the ex-boyfriend of his daughter on March 27, 2007 after he married another woman.
Hothi's family seeks the money to compensate for their loss and to send a message, their attorney Steven Brown said. "They want to make it clear that he needs to be held accountable," Brown was quoted as saying by recordnet.com.
The wrongful death lawsuit was filed last week in San Joaquin County Superior Court on behalf of Jasvir Kaur, Hothi's widow, Avtar Hothi, his father and mother Manjit Kaur Hothi.
According to prosecutors, Khalsa stalked Hothi, who had dated Khalsa's daughter. Khalsa, who owned Pacific Coast Intermodal - a trucking firm based in French Camp refused to allow Hothi to marry his daughter, because he was just a trucker, prosecutors have said.
Khalsa later learned that his daughter had aborted Hothi's child and demanded the couple marry but Hothi's parents had sent their son to India for an arranged marriage, according to court papers. Prosecutors accuse Khalsa of tracking down Hothi and killing him in a cab.
Hothi was shot nine times with a handgun similar to one Khalsa had registered years before, according to a police report. The gun was, however, never recovered.
San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Robert Himelblau plans to seek a life sentence for Khalsa in the jury trial set for May, the website said.
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