Man convicted of killing his estranged wife sentenced to life in prison

PHOENIX - The family of a murdered Phoenix woman Navneet Kaur has waited 12.5 years for this day, and on Friday, a judge sentenced the Kaur's husband, Avtar Grewal, for the brutal killing.

Kaur, who was 30 at the time of her murder, was strangled and drowned inside her Ahwatukee home back in 2007. After she asked for a divorce, Grewal, 44, immediately flew from Canada, where he lived, to Phoenix. Grewal then fled to India after the murder.

On Friday, Grewal told the judge he wished he could be sentenced to death, but this was not a death penalty case.

"Give me the worst punishment you can think of," said Grewal, in court. "I wish Mr. Martinez hadn't removed death right before the trial, and you could have given me the death penalty today. Just give me natural life."

Avtar Grewal

Kaur's family traveled to Phoenix from out of state and out of the country. They do not believe Grewal was sincere.

"He never showed any remorse in his testimony or trial proceedings," said Kaur's brother, Sandeep Singh.

It took several years for Grewal to be extradited from India, but it only took hours for a jury to decide Grewal was guilty of first-degree murder. In all, it took more than a decade for a judge to sentence Grewal to life in prison, without parole.

"I think its just a closure of this case," said Singh. "This is going to go with us. It might even follow us in the afterlife."

Grewal was also ordered to pay more than $20,000 in restitution to Kaur's family.