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Details
of the case recently became public after unsealed the 553-page transcripts
Khalsa
eligible for a death sentence if he is convicted
Stockton, California, August 18, 2008
Malkiat Singh
Robert Himelblau, the San Joaquin County deputy district attorney
said: Details of the case recently became public after unsealed
the 553-page transcripts of a four-day grand jury hearing that ended
with Khalsa's April 25 indictment. He was arrested hours later.
He said, "This was unrequited love and I don't want to call
it 'Romeo and Juliet,' because that would romanticize it. It's all
tawdry and ridiculous."
- Hothi was just a truck driver and belongs to lower class
- Gurparkash Khalsa owned Pacific Coast Intermodal in French
Camp.
- In November 2004, a secret romance started between Ajmer Hothi
and Khalsa's daughter, Kiranjot Pannu, age 17.
- Gurparkash Khalsa of being driven by humiliation over his daughter's
soiled reputation. He learned of the romance and quickly forbade
it.
- Witnesses testified:
- Tension between the families rose when Khalsa heard rumors
that Hothi had gotten his daughter pregnant and she'd had
an abortion. That's when Khalsa changed his mind, demanding
that Hothi marry his daughter, witnesses testified.
- Hothi's parents sent their son to India for a traditional arranged
marriage.
- Gurparkash Khalsa became upset and traveled to same village
where Hothi had been married.
- Khalsa attempted to broker the man's divorce, freeing him
to marry his daughter. Word of Khalsa's efforts traveled back
to Stockton before Khalsa returned
- Himelblau continue and said:
- "My impression of the Stockton Sikh community is that they
are close-knit,"
- . "Like in any small town in the U.S., everybody's business
is everybody's business. If it was true or not, he was being humiliated
in his eyes."
- Both Khalsa and his obsessive daughter stalked Hothi, who had
long before ended the romance. Hothi's parents urged their son
to move out of the area, fearing for his safety, witnesses testified.
- Growing increasingly upset by rumors about his daughter, Himelblau
said Khalsa finally ambushed Hothi in the semi-truck cab, repeatedly
shooting him.
- Investigators never recovered the weapon, but years ago Khalsa
registered a similar type of gun with the Stockton Police Department.
Kiranjit Hothi, sister of Ajmer Hothi told jury:
- My father worked for Khalsa in the past and feared of him
- All our families had attended Stockton's Sikh Temple, the oldest
of its kind in the United States.
- My dad really didn't like Khalsa him," she said of Khalsa.
- Yes, he was scared that he - he can like, you know, he was dangerous
to our family, our whole family.
Surjit Kaur, mother of Ajmer Hothi told jury through an interpreter:
- She had feared for his life, knowing that Khalsa had stalked
her son and that his former girlfriend, too, was obsessive
- Finding her son shot dead in the cab of his truck:
- "I saw him there," she said. "And then I
said his name. I thought, you know, maybe he's fainted. I
called his name. He wouldn't wake up."
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