Family and lawyer say he was framed to derail the Indian murder trial of Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu, a Maple Ridge beautician who was kidnapped, tortured and killed after going against her family's wishes to marry the man she loved.

Sukhwinder (Mithu) Singh with his court-ordered police bodyguard. He has already been jailed once before because of a fake police report made by his wife`s family members

Maple Ridge beautician Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu paid with her life after going against her wealthy family's wishes and secretly marrying the poor man she loved in India.

Now just as her murder trial in India is nearing a conclusion, the man Jaswinder married and the key witness in the case--Sukhwinder "Mithu" Singh--has been charged with raping a girl from his village.

The family is alleging that the rape charges are false and the incident has been orchestrated by the accused in the murder case to derail their on-going trial.

Sukhwinder and Jassi in a picture taken shortly after their 1999 marriage.

If that is proven to be true, this will be second time Mithu has been falsely imprisoned after his secret 1999 marriage to Jaswinder, known to her friends as Jassi.

"It is a fabricated case to derail the trial...He was framed and we have asked the highest authorities in Punjab to investigate this false arrest," Ashwani Chowdury, Mithu's lawyer told The Asian Pacific Post.

"A police officer was offered a big bribe to help the accused in the trial just recently before this false rape case," Chowdury said in a telephone interview, adding the family has taken the matter up with the office of the Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh.

Chowdury read a statement by Mithu's mother Sukhdev Kaur: "We are paying the price for fighting for justice in this country. My son and I have spurned offers of even Rs 1 crore (about C$280,000) to settle the Jassi murder case and this is what we get in return"

"He was trapped by his enemies who live here and Canada. The trial in the murder case is near completion and we are hoping that justice will be done."

Rajiv Ahir, the senior superintendent of police in Jagraon, Punjab was quoted by an Indian news agency saying that Mithu had "confessed" to the crime in police custody but that the confession had no legal binding.

Mithu denied the charges when he was produced in court.

The rape charges add a new twist to a sensational cultural murder which has been developed into three documentaries and has hogged headlines around the world.

Jassi, who graduated from high school in Maple Ridge was 25 when she was kidnapped, beaten and strangled to death on June 8, 2000.

Her body was found in a canal 45 kilometres from Kaonke Khosa, Punjab, where she had moved with her new husband, Mithu, three months earlier.

"He was trapped by his enemies who live here and Canada," Sukhdev Kaur

The kidnappers had left Mithu for dead after attacking him with swords and sharpened sticks.

Shortly after Jassi's body was found with her throat slit, Indian police alleged that family members, including her mother and uncle in B.C., paid thugs up to $50,000 for the hit.

Indian police in court papers allege that the order to kill "came from Canada" after Jassi pleaded for her life over the phone from an abandoned farmhouse.

They have charged Jassi's mother Malkiat Kaur and uncle, Surjit Singh Badesha both of Maple Ridge, with conspiracy to commit murder.

The wealthy Maple Ridge farming family has denied any involvement in the incident.

Indian police have revised their extradition requests at least four times. The latest was in May where Punjab's top cop met with a representative of the Canadian High Commission in India.

Eleven others, including another uncle of Jassi's in India, an Indian police inspector and the leader of a local gang, were arrested in connection with the case.

Inspector Swaran Singh credited with breaking the conspiracy

Their trial before Additional Sessions Court Judge G.S. Dhiman in Sangrur, Punjab is nearing conclusion, after Mithu and the police officer credited with breaking the case, Inspector Swaran Singh testified recently.

In May, Mithu told The Asian Pacific Post in India that he feared for his life as he was constantly being confronted by people associated with the accused.

A court in India ordered police protection for Mithu and gave him permission to carry a gun after his house was raked with gun fire and his friends attacked.

"I can never feel safe here," he said, adding that he has been approached to drop the case by parties offering him large sums of money and promising to help him immigrate to Canada.

In 1999, after Jassi's family had found out about the couple's secret marriage, they filed a police report in India falsely claiming Mithu had compelled her to marry him to gain access to her wealth.

Forced marriages are a criminal offence in Punjab.

Mithu was arrested and jailed until Jassi managed to get a notarized letter to Indian police to state that she had married on her own free will.

"I was threatened by my family and was then physically forced by them to sign the letter stating that our marriage was null and void," wrote Jassi to Indian police.

The head of the Jagroan police district at that time Jaskaran Singh, who received the letter, accused Jassi's family in Canada of faking the police reports which led to Mithu's arrest.