Three Indian nationals saying they were victims of a racist fire bombing in Quakers Hill charged with staging fire
Three Indian nationals saying they were victims of a racist fire bombing in Quakers Hill charged with staging fire | thetelegraph.com.au
THREE Indian nationals who sparked a police investigation by claiming they were victims of a racist fire bombing attack have been charged with staging the incident.
Police told the court the complainants had staged the fire at Punjabi supermarket at Quakers Hill, near Blacktown, for insurance money.
Harpal Singh-Arora, 33, had told police in September he was closing up the Punjabi supermarket in Quakers Hill about 9pm on September 7 when three armed men entered the store hurling racial insults before stealing $2400 and setting off a huge explosion which blasted him out of the shop and onto the footpath, he was rushed to hospital.
The store owner, his brother-in-law Abhinaz Khurana and Pankaj Sadana, 27 also rushed to Blacktown hospital to see Singh-Arora.
However, all three were taken into custody yesterday after a police investigation decided the account was fabricated. In particular, detectives said, there were large holes in Singh-Aroras signed statement which said he was "picked up and blown out of the front door by a hot wind".
"He says that the force of the explosion was enough to blow him through the door and knock him to the ground" a police fax sheet said.
A police fax said shop records reveal the shop had been listed for sale for two months and the sale had been slow since a larger Indian supermarket had opened nearby.
The three men had recently taken out an insurance policy after leaving the shop uninsured for a year.
"Investigators believe that the motive for lightning the fire was purely for financial reasons," a police fax said.
"This matter is of a serious nature in which there has been a degree of planning and preparation.
"It was noted that there were a number of loose leaflets on the front counter which had not moved as a result of the explosion, furthermore the fax sheet said there were traces of petrol on Singh-Aroras clothes and shoes suggesting that he stood or walked through the petrol rather than being blown out of the shop."
The fax sheet was tendered at Kogarah local court today where Sing-Arora and Sadana were both granted bail after spending the night in custody.
Khurana was granted immediate police bail after the arrest yesterday.
All three are due to appear in Burwood local court on December 3.