Bizarre case of harassment, missed alimony payments turns deadly.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: An Indian American woman who lived just outside Washington, DC was murdered on Saturday morning by her former husband and his second wife.
Preeta Paul Gabba, 49, was crossing a street at around 7:45 a.m. when her ex-husband, Baldeo Taneja, along with his current wife, Raminder Kaur, fired at least one shot at Gabba. She collapsed on the roadway and was rushed to the hospital soon after, where she succumbed to her injuries.
While police are still piecing together the details of the case, the investigation has brought to light this much: Taneja and Gabba married in Pune in 2002 and separated in 2009, with their divorce being finalized in 2011. During their marriage, which was Gabba’s second, Taneja was reportedly often abusive towards Gabba. When Gabba immigrated to the US in 2008, one year after Taneja did for a job in Boston, he asked her to stay in a hotel rather than live with him.
After their divorce, Taneja — an employee at Biostatistics & Clinical Data Management in Rockville, MD at the time — moved to Tennessee, where he began working as a statistician at a major company in Nashville. Taneja is a well-educated man, having earned a Ph.D. from Ohio State University in 1982.
Despite being divorced, however, Taneja allegedly harassed Gabba with late-night phone calls, even going so far as to smash windows, break into her house, and physically assault her. Gabba was reportedly terrified of Taneja, who accused her of being unfaithful during their marriage.
In recent months, Taneja ceased making his alimony payments, Last week, it was discovered that Taneja and Kaur purchased two handguns in Nashville on September 28th. Taneja was supposed — though not legally obligated, according to his attorney — to be at a court hearing on Thursday last week to discuss his lack of alimony payments, but did not attend.
The court hearing is how investigators knew Taneja, 62, and Kaur, 63, were likely in the Germantown, MD, area, where Gabba lived. After the shooting, investigators tracked Taneja and Kaur to Nashville, where they were arrested on Sunday. They are now waiting to be extradited to Montgomery County, where they will be arraigned and formally charged.
Gabba worked at a clerical company in Rockville, MD, earning around $10 an hour. She is survived by her son, now in his 20s.