It was a normal workday for 23-year-old DPD driver Aurman Singh.
Like any other morning, he left his Smethwick home and headed north to Stoke-on-Trent, where he loaded his van with parcels, ready to begin deliveries around Shrewsbury.
But unknown to him, a gang was already tracking his every move—armed with insider knowledge, deadly weapons, and revenge in mind.
What happened next was so violent, so calculated, that it shocked even seasoned detectives and later became the subject of the BBC documentary Murder 24/7.
A Festival Fight That Turned Deadly
The violence didn’t begin in Shrewsbury. It started a day earlier, on August 20, 2023, at a Kabaddi tournament in Alvaston, Derby.
What was supposed to be a celebration of culture turned into a chaotic brawl.
Men armed with machetes, axes, and bats fought each other in broad daylight—right in front of families. A judge later called it “medieval.”
That same judge sentenced seven of the men involved in that brawl to a combined 40 years in prison.
But as it turned out, the street fight was just the beginning of something far darker.
Honour, Silence, and a Deadly Plan
Though the exact reason for the brawl remains murky, one man involved claimed it was about “honour”—and that it felt justified. A “conspiracy of silence,” the judge called it.
But the following day, that sense of honour escalated into cold-blooded murder.
On August 21, just hours after the Kabaddi fight, seven men armed with an axe, a knife, a shovel, a golf club, and a hockey stick tracked down Aurman as he made his deliveries in the quiet area of Coton Hill, Shrewsbury.
A Chilling Ambush in Broad Daylight
Using a white Mercedes and a grey Audi, the gang followed Aurman’s delivery van.
Inside information about his route had been passed along by a colleague at the DPD depot—24-year-old Sukhmandeep Singh.
When Aurman stopped to deliver packages around 1pm, the group made their move.
One attacker, Harwinder Singh Turna, hurled a metal bar at him, causing him to fall.
What followed was an attack of horrifying ferocity.
Aurman was hacked, beaten, and stabbed in the middle of the street.
His left ear was severed. His skull was cracked open. There was nothing paramedics could do.
The Getaway and Panic That Followed
After leaving Aurman bleeding to death on the roadside, the attackers fled, dumping weapons in Hubert Way.
Witnesses called for help, but it was too late. As police launched a manhunt, the killers scrambled to hide their tracks.
During their trial, one of the accused, Sehajpal Singh, revealed tensions and panic during their escape.
There were arguments about fingerprints on the metal bar and concern over whether they’d be caught. Some fled by car, others by bus.
The group reunited in Wolverhampton before laying low in Tipton.
Arrests in Austria and International Manhunt
Not all the attackers stayed hidden. Harwinder Singh Turna fled the UK entirely, boarding a flight to Delhi the day after the murder.
Another, Harpreet Singh, vanished after withdrawing large sums of cash from various ATMs. Their whereabouts remain unknown.
Meanwhile, Sehajpal Singh and Mehakdeep Singh—both from Tipton—fled to Austria.
It took months, but in May 2024, armed Austrian police captured them in the village of Hohenzell.
Dramatic footage of the sting operation showed officers swarming in to make the arrest.
Murder Convictions and Long Sentences
Though both men denied any part in the killing, a jury didn’t buy their story.
On June 17, 2025, they were found guilty of murder.
Their convictions add to a growing list of those held accountable.
Earlier, Arshdeep Singh, Jagdeep Singh, Shivdeep Singh, and Manjot Singh were each sentenced to 28 years.
The “inside man,” Sukhmandeep Singh, who had leaked Aurman’s route, received 10 years for manslaughter.
A Life Lost Over An Old Grudge
Aurman Singh wasn’t a gang member. He wasn’t on any police list.
He was a young man, born in Italy, of Indian Sikh heritage, simply doing his job as a delivery driver.
He lived with his mother and younger sister in a quiet home in Smethwick.
Neighbours described him as polite, quiet, and hard-working.
But he may have been caught up in tensions long before that deadly day.
There were whispers of his presence at the Kabaddi fight—and possibly another “crazy” brawl at a local Punjabi festival weeks earlier.
Whether he was involved or just nearby, it made him a target.
Social Media, Surveillance, and Revenge
What turned into a savage execution began with a fight that went viral on social media.
Police believe the gang used footage from that Kabaddi brawl to identify and target Aurman.
That digital trail, combined with betrayal from within his own workplace, sealed his fate.
Justice Delivered, But Questions Remain
The BBC’s Murder 24/7 documentary captures the intensity of the police investigation—from the moment Aurman’s body was found to the international manhunt that brought some of his killers to justice.
But with two suspects still on the run, questions about the deeper motivations—and how something as petty as a festival brawl turned into a gangland-style execution—remain unanswered.
