NRI Former City Council candidate Arrested for
plotting to burn down Gurdwara
Los Angeles, Mar 10, 2023
NRIpress.club/Ramesh/ A.Gary Singh
NRI Rajvir “Raj” Singh Gill, 60, a former Bakersfield City Council candidate was arrested last weekend on suspicion of trying to hire hit men to shoot members of one of Bakersfield’s largest Sikh temples and burn down the Gurdwara (Bakersfield’s largest Sikh temples).
- Rajvir “Raj” Singh Gill was in conflict and divided the congregation’s leadership and sparked dueling lawsuits in Kern County Superior Court.
- He won less than 7 percent of the vote in November’s Ward 7 election, was under a temporary restraining order not to harass the temple.
- He has in recent months showed up at the property disrupting prayers and threatening members of the congregation and carrying a gun before being arrested
Sukhwinder Singh Ranghi, attributed the repeated confrontations to a dispute over more than $800,000, contributed by members of the congregation, that was supposed to reimburse a corporate entity set up to buy the temple out of foreclosure in July 2020.
Ranghi said the temple learned Gill offered $10,000 to two Hispanic men to kill certain leaders of the congregation who are involved in the court cases, including Ranghi. He said Gill drove the men around the city pointing out the homes of the temple leaders he wanted killed. This information came to temple leadership from an associate of the intended hit men.
According to local News Media, City Councilwoman Manpreet Kaur, who won last fall’s election said:
- She knew of the restraining order against Gill but was unaware of the conflict’s details. She called the allegations against him unfathomable.
- It’s really heartbreaking.
- It’s frightening and I’m just hoping the community stays safe.
Sources: Bakersfield.com/ Harinder Singh/ Ramesh
|
