Life sentence for Tenn. wife in death of Germantown woman

Preeta Gabba, who was shot and killed near her Germantown home in 2013. Her ex-husband Baldeo Taneja and his new wife Raminder Kaur were convicted of murder in her death. Kaur was sentence two life sentences for Gabba's death on Monday. (Courtesy Montgomery County State's Attorney's office)
Preeta Gabba, 49, was shot and killed near her Germantown home in 2013. Her ex-husband Baldeo Taneja and his new wife Raminder Kaur were each convicted of murder in her death. Kaur was sentenced to life in prison for Gabba’s death on Monday. (Courtesy Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s office)
(Courtesy Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s office)
(Courtesy Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s office)
(Courtesy Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s office)
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Preeta Gabba, who was shot and killed near her Germantown home in 2013. Her ex-husband Baldeo Taneja and his new wife Raminder Kaur were convicted of murder in her death. Kaur was sentence two life sentences for Gabba's death on Monday. (Courtesy Montgomery County State's Attorney's office)

ROCKVILLE, Md. — A Nashville woman who traveled from Tennessee to Montgomery County to kill her husband’s ex-wife has been sentenced to life in prison.

Raminder Kaur, 67, was convicted in November of first-degree murder, conspiracy and a gun charge in the death of Preeta Gabba, 49, who had previously been married to Kaur’s husband, Baldeo Taneja.

Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Michael Mason noted “the degree of planning and premeditation,” in the murder scheme. “This was no blink of an eye.”

Kaur, who listened to the proceedings through a Punjabi interpreter, shook her head “no” when asked if she wanted to speak before sentencing.

Mason sentenced her to two concurrent life sentences plus five years for her role in the crime.

Kaur and Taneja were angry that he had to pay $2,000 a month in alimony to Gabba, according to prosecutors.

Photos introduced at trial showed Kaur and Taneja purchasing guns together in Nashville two weeks before Gabba was killed as she walked to catch a bus in Germantown on a Saturday morning in 2013. She was found fatally shot near her home.

After sentencing, McCarthy said it was clear Kaur and Taneja planned to kill Gabba.

“They came up here from Tennessee, they traveled 600 miles — it was 600 miles of premeditation,” McCarthy said.

Kaur and Taneja took shooting lessons, and are believed to have traveled to Montgomery County one week before Gabba was killed to observe her Saturday routine, McCarthy said.

After shooting Gabba, Kaur and Taneja checked in briefly at a nearby Amway conference to establish an alibi before returning to Tennessee,McCarthy said.

“In every way you can plan and prepare for a murder, these two did it,” said McCarthy.

Kaur was granted a new trial in 2014, after claiming her public defender was ineffective.

Taneja, who was originally convicted in a joint trial with Kaur, is awaiting a ruling on his own appeal for a new trial.

Neal Augenstein

Neal Augenstein has been a general assignment reporter with WTOP since 1997. He says he looks forward to coming to work every day, even though that means waking up at 3:30 a.m.

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