Woman Charged in Kidnapping of Her Own Son Pleads Not Guilty

Weeping in court, a Calabasas woman accused of arranging the abduction of her 5-year-old son to get ransom money from her unwitting husband pleaded not guilty to kidnapping charges Tuesday.

Malibu Court Judge Lawrence Mira set bail for Rajvinder Kaur at $5 million, citing allegations that Kaur had embezzled money from her husband’s business in the past, and noting that the two had been estranged until recently.

Sheriff’s investigators say Kaur, 41, wanted to get the $200,000 ransom to repay debts in her native India.

But that scenario was disputed by her lawyer, Donald Re, who pointed out that the ransom “would have been her own money” too.

“The husband is completely supportive of her,” Re said. “He’s here to post her bond.”

Teja Singh, Kaur’s husband, sat in court with a small group of family members Tuesday. Occasionally, the couple made eye contact, causing Kaur to break into tears several times. Singh refused to comment on the case.

Three men were also charged in the case. Two of them, Tajinder Singh, 36, and Balwinder Singh, 25, also pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, child abuse and burglary in Mira’s courtroom Tuesday; their bail was set at $500,000 each.

The third man, Jaswinder Gurdeep Singh, 31, is in custody in Denver and may be extradited to Los Angeles as soon as Wednesday, prosecutors said.

Singh is a common Indian surname, and prosectors say they are not sure if the couple and the three male defendants are related. Re said one of the men may be a cousin of either Kaur or Teja Singh.

During the bail hearing, Sheriff’s Det. Phillip Martinez said Kaur blurted out after her arrest that she had been “blackmailed” by Tajinder Singh and Balwinder Singh.

He didn’t elaborate in court and refused comment later.

The investigator also said Kaur and Teja Singh were awarded $8 million in a 1991 insurance settlement that he characterized as a possible “scam.” He said that one or more of the other defendants may have aided in the kidnapping in anger at not having received a share of the settlement.

Kaur’s attorney called the allegation fiction.

Investigators say Kaur conspired with the three men in the abduction of the youngest of her four children, Parmuir Singh, from the family’s home in the gated Calabasas community of Oak Creek Estates on Aug. 8.

That night, two masked gunmen broke into the home, tying up Kaur, Singh and the children, kidnapping the 5-year-old boy and leaving a $200,000 ransom note. The boy turned up a day later at a store in Oxnard.

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Investigators said they tracked down the suspects by matching the rope used to tie up the family to similar rope sold at a nearby sporting-goods store. They then reviewed the store’s surveillance tapes to identify two of the suspects.

On Tuesday, prosecutors successfully argued that Kaur has the means, and possibly the desire, to skip the country.

On Nov. 22 when she was arrested, Kaur told deputies she “should have left to India,” Martinez said. He also said she had been recorded having a conversation with Balwinder Singh in which she arranged for him to flee to Canada or New York.

Re argued that Kaur’s family and children, three of whom are 10 years old or younger, would keep her in the country. Mira rejected that argument outright; at issue, he said, was a “cunning to conspire with others to terrorize one’s own children.”