GURPREET Singh Atwal of Abbotsford on Tuesday pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in the 2009 death of Kulwinder Kaur Gill, 42, in B.C. Supreme Court and will be sentenced in August.

Atwal’s lawyer and Crown are expected to make a joint submission for a 21-year sentence.

Three others, including the victim’s husband, Iqbal Singh Gill, have already pleaded guilty in the case.

ON April 27, 2009, members of the Abbotsford Police Department were called to the 34000-block of Townshipline Road for a report of a female who had been struck by a vehicle which had failed to remain at the scene of the accident.

At the time, police told the media that they were called to the area of Townshipline and Bell Roads where a pedestrian had reportedly been struck by a grey or silver pick-up truck.  They were flagged down by a man who directed them to a partially water-filled ditch. Police determined the man was in fact the husband of the victim and that the couple had been walking in the area prior to the incident. At about 9 p.m. that day police located a possible suspect vehicle several blocks away. The vehicle was seized and sent for a forensic examination to determine whether it was involved in the incident.

As this investigation progressed it was determined that foul play was suspected and the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) was called in to lead the murder investigation. The victim was identified as 42-year-old Abbotsford resident, Kulwinder Kaur Gill.

After a very involved four-year investigation, IHIT, in partnership with Abbotsford Police Department and RCMP on a national level, secured charges against four individuals including Gill’s husband, 53-year-old Abbotsford resident Iqbal Singh Gill. In April 2013, these four men were arrested.

In May 2013, IHIT announced that Sukhpal Singh Johal, 26, of Surrey, who had initially been charged with conspiracy to commit murder and accessory after the fact in the murder of Kulwinder Gill was also facing a first-degree murder charge in the case. The victim’s husband, Iqbal Singh Gill, then 49, along with Gurpreet Singh Atwal, then 26, of Abbotsford and Jaspreet Singh Sohi, then 28, of Surrey were facing first-degree murder charges in the murder. Sohi was also facing a charge of accessory after the fact to murder.

In 2015 and 2016, Jaspreet Singh Sohi and then Sukpal Singh Johal, both of Surrey, pleaded guilty to charges of being an accessory to murder and were both sentenced to time served plus one day.

Last year on October 20, Iqbal Singh Gill entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to commit murder against his wife in the B.C. Supreme Court. In November, he was sentenced to 17 years.

The last remaining trial against Gurpreet Atwal was scheduled for May 2018 at the time.