Wife’s Insults, Money Quarrels Led to Killing, Husband Says

A 25-year-old East Indian immigrant, on trial for the August murder of his wife, testified Wednesday that he strangled her after she accused him of marrying her for money and insulted his mother.

Nandan Lal told a Van Nuys Superior Court jury that he choked his wife with his hands for two or three minutes but did not intend to kill her. Lal said he then smoked two cigarettes in the bedroom of their Woodland Hills town house before becoming alarmed because his wife, Mandeep Kaur, 25, showed no sign of life as she lay on the bed.

After checking her pulse and determining that she was dead, Lal said, he felt “miserable” and got a knife, intending to kill himself. But he dismissed his thoughts of suicide, Lal said, after telephoning his parents in India.

He testified that, although he did not tell his parents what had just occurred, he was reassured during the conversation that “people still cared” about him.

Lal said he and his wife, also an immigrant from India, argued almost every day about money, about the dowry that was paid as part of their marriage and over strained relations with in-laws.

Cursed His Mother

He said he choked Kaur only after she accused him of marrying her for money and referred to his mother as “a bitch.”

“I couldn’t seem to control myself at that time,” said Lal, who spoke in a soft but unemotional voice. “I couldn’t take it anymore.”

Although Deputy Dist. Atty. Deborah L. Kranze is seeking a murder conviction, Deputy Public Defender Barry A. Taylor is expected to argue that Lal acted “in the heat of passion” and that the killing amounted to manslaughter.

According to testimony during the trial, which began Feb. 6, Kaur, who came from a wealthy New Delhi family, was a highly independent woman by Indian standards. She moved to Los Angeles in 1980 and established a garment distribution business that eventually earned her an estimated $100,000 a year.

Consumed by her seven-day-a-week work schedule, Kaur had hoped to postpone matrimony for several years but was urged by her parents to marry, friends and family members said in interviews. By Indian standards, it is shameful for a single woman in her 20s to live on her own, friends said.

Lal and Kaur were married in New Delhi in October, 1983, after Kaur proposed to him, Lal testified. Kaur returned to Woodland Hills a few days after the ceremony, but Lal, who had trouble getting a visa, was not able to join her until December, 1984, according to testimony.

The trial has included considerable discussion of Indian customs.

Lal testified that his wife often complained that his mother had asked her to return some family jewelry that was given to Kaur for their wedding. Lal said, however, that it is customary for the bride to return the groom’s family jewels after the wedding and to inherit them upon the mother-in-law’s death.

Kaur’s father, Mohanjit Singh, has maintained that the two families became estranged immediately after the ceremony because Lal’s parents felt that the dowry provided by Singh--a key part of most Indian weddings--was insufficient. Singh estimated in an interview that he gave more than $10,000 in jewelry, clothing, cash and other items to the groom’s extended family.

Religious Differences

In addition, testimony disclosed that religious differences played a part in driving a wedge between the families.

Lal testified that his father, who is Hindu, was hurt when his wife’s family members, who are Sikhs, refused to attend a Hindu wedding rite at which gifts are exchanged. The small ceremony was the only part of the wedding that was Hindu, Lal said, and it “meant a hell of a lot to my father.”

Lal said that, when he joined his wife in Los Angeles after a year’s separation, it was his first trip to the United States, and the country felt like a “totally alien place for me.”

Lal said that he had no friends here and that his wife forbade him to communicate with his family in India.

Marital Troubles

Within months, marital troubles developed, and Kaur began talking about divorcing her husband but was persuaded by her father to try to reconcile with Lal, testimony showed.

According to Lal’s tape-recorded statement to police, which was played in court Tuesday, Lal said his wife wanted him at her side “24 hours a day” to help in her business. However, he wanted to get an independent job and “make my own way,” he said.

Lal also testified that Kaur flew to India on a two-week business trip shortly after he arrived in the United States and left him with only $20 and a four- or five-day supply of food in the house.

Lal will resume testifying today. The trial is expected to conclude today or Monday.