A history of organized crime in the Indo-Canadian
community:
Dozens of young Indo-Canadian men have been slain
in recent years, caught in the violent world of organized
crime and drug trafficking. Most of the cases remain
unsolved.
Vancouver, June 10, 2005
Sun
Kim Bolan
Aug. 29, 2004
-- Manjinder Singh Nutt, already charged in
a stabbing several months ago, is gunned down outside
the Saanich basement he had rented for several months.
Police say he had connections to the Lower Mainland
Indo-Canadian gang scene.
July 14, 2004 -
Hardeep (Hardy) Bassi of Langley is found dead in
his car in Abbotsford after shots are fired around
3:20 a.m. Friends of Bassi's family said he had
gotten mixed up in gangs and drugs.
May 4, 2004 --
Two Indo-Canadian men are found shot dead in a home
in the 800-block of East 32nd Street in Vancouver.
One of the victims is identified as Herman Dhillon,
a former high school basketball star. The other
victim's identity is not made public. Police say
they believe the murders are gang-related.
April 26, 2004 --
Harjit Ghoman is shot dead in his car in the Pacific
National Exhibition's north parking lot. Ghoman,
who had been at a concert at the PNE with his girlfriend,
is shot in his car by a man wearing a balaclava.
Ghoman was a suspect in a September 2000 shooting
in Vancouver.
March 23, 2004
-- Truck driver Karmen Singh Johl, 63, is found
shot to death at the wheel of his Chrysler LeBaron
on River Road in Delta. Johl had been convicted
of drug trafficking in 1993 and lost property under
the Proceeds of Crime Act in 1998. Police are investigating
the possibility his murder was linked to Indo-Canadian
gangs and cross-border smuggling.
March 6, 2004 --
Gerpal (Paul) Dosanjh, 27, is shot to death inside
the Gourmet Castle Restaurant on East Hastings.
He is a cousin of the original Indo-Canadian gangsters
-- Jimmy and Ron Dosanjh -- who were gunned down
in 1994 by suspected associates of Bindy Johal
Dec. 13, 2003 -
Thirty-six year old trucker Gurwinder Singh Bath
is found slumped in his car in Bear Creek Park in
Surrey. Earlier in the year, Bath, who worked for
R&S Transportation Ltd., had been implicated
in a cross-border marijuana-smuggling scheme involving
commercial trucks.
Aug. 16, 2003 --
Three people are killed and six are wounded, including
several innocent bystanders, after shooting breaks
out between bikers and Indo-Canadian gang members
at the Loft Six nightclub in Gastown. "Paul"
Dosanjh survives a shot in the head, but is killed
just months later.
Aug. 8, 2003
-- Bobby Johal is gunned down in an upscale Saanich
neighbourhood. He was wounded three years earlier
in a July 2000 attack that claimed the life of his
younger brother, Gurinder. Sources say the brothers
had been involved in marijuana trafficking.
June 8, 2003 --
The body of 20-year-old Jaspal Toor is found in
south Vancouver. A 26-year-old Burnaby man is charged
with second-degree murder. Police say Toor was involved
in minor drug activity.
Nov. 18, 2002 --
Davinder Singh Gharu, 21, is shot outside his New
Westminster home. He was a close friend of Jaskaran
Singh Chima, who was murdered in spring 2002, and
an associate of Robbie Kandola, murdered in June.
Sources say the intended target of the hit was actually
Gharu's cousin Peter Adiwal.
Nov. 16, 2002 --
The body of Heera (Hari) Singh Bahia, 24, is found
near Mission. Bahia, who had gang associations,
disappeared in August.
Nov. 1, 2002 --
Abenaas (Abby) Jaswal is doused with flammable liquid
and set on fire in a ravine beside a Belcarra regional
park road. Port Moody police believe the Simon Fraser
University student got involved in a drug scheme
that went bad.
Sept. 29, 2002 --
The body of known drug dealer Kamaljit Singh Sangha
of Vancouver is discovered near Nelson Ave. and
Marine Drive in Burnaby. Sources say Sangha was
killed because he gunned down 22-year-old Michael
Ly three months earlier outside a Metrotown apartment
building.
June 23, 2002 --
Cocaine dealer Robbie Kandola is murdered by killers
waiting for him as he gets out of a cab in front
of his Coal Harbour apartment. Former gangster Bal
Buttar said he arranged the hit because Kandola
had ordered the murder of Buttar's brother Kelly
six months earlier.
April 1, 2002
-- Gurjinder (Gary) Singh Sidhu is chased down and
shot to death by two men lying in wait for him at
the Delta house where his family had been hiding
in fear of retaliation for another killing. Three
men are later convicted. Buttar says Sidhu, along
with his friends Rick Bhatti and Ned Mander, were
killed over a heroin smuggling scheme that went
bad.
March 18, 2002
-- New Westminster police discover the body of 25-year-old
Jaskaran Singh Chima in a burning car under the
Alex Fraser Bridge. Chima was a known drug dealer.
Buttar admits he arranged the hit on Chima who he
believed was involved in his brother Kelly's December
2001 murder.
Jan. 2, 2002 --
The body of Phouvong Phommaviset, 26, is found near
the Fraser River in Richmond. Phommaviset was a
suspect in the disappearance of Ned Mander the previous
October.
Dec. 22, 2001
-- Kuljit Singh (Kelly) Buttar, 22, is shot dead
at a Richmond wedding.
Nov. 21, 2001
-- The bound bodies of Gurpreet Singh Butter, 25,
and Sukhjinder Singh Sahota, 27, are found shot
to death on the riverfront near Dyke Road in Richmond.
Buttar says the pair was killed over the same heroin
deal that involved Sidhu, Bhatti and Mander.
Oct. 9, 2001
-- Narinder (Ned) Singh Mander is kidnapped from
his Surrey business by two men and has not been
seen since. Hours later, he makes a call to a friend
in a car with Rakinder (Rick) Singh Bhatti. Minutes
later, shots are fired at the car near Surrey's
Dasmesh Darbar temple and Bhatti is killed. Mander
and Bhatti were allegedly involved in a heroin smuggling
scheme that went bad.
Sept. 29, 2001
-- Kamalbir (Kam) Jawanda is shot dead outside the
home of Sarbjit Singh Dhanda, a former Bindy Johal
associate and friend of Rick Bhatti and Gary Sidhu.
Dhanda is convicted of manslaughter and sentenced
to five years.
Aug. 20, 2001
-- Tyler Hawryluk, 22, an associate of the Buttar
brothers and Bindy Johal, is found shot dead in
Burnaby. Hawryluk was executed by associates of
Bal Buttar who believed he had been the triggerman
in the attempted execution of Buttar two weeks earlier.
Aug. 3, 2001 --
Gary Rai and Baljit Singh (Bal) Buttar are shot
at a Vancouver hair salon. Rai is killed and Buttar,
a former Bindy Johal associate, is left paralysed.
Buttar says Rai conspired with Hawryluk, Buttar's
girlfriend and the woman's new love to take him
out.
July 9, 2001 -
Lakhwinder Singh Sahota, a dispatcher for R&S
Transportation, is shot in the leg as he arrives
for work by an Indo-Canadian male who mutters something
in Punjabi.
Jan. 15, 2001 --
The body of 24-year-old Krishan Sharma, who is known
to police, is found in a pond under the Pattullo
Bridge. Sources say Sharma was choked to death,
stripped and burned because he was responsible for
a shooting a short time before that left a man critically
wounded.
Sept. 14, 2000
-- Suspected drug dealer Gurpreet Singh Sohi, 20,
is shot to death in Delta. Three of his former associates
-- Robbie Soomel, Gogi Mann and Hardip Uppal --
are later convicted.
Sept. 9, 2000
-- Parmjit Singh Gill, 20, of Burnaby, and 26-year-old
Raj Soomel, of Vancouver, are shot and wounded in
an exchange of gunfire outside Soomel's family home
on East 59th. Soomel's brother Robbie believed the
shooters were Harj Ghoman, killed in 2004, Gurpreet
Sohi, shot a week later by Soomel and admitted gangster
Mindy Bhandher.
Aug. 25, 2000
-- Manmohan Singh Tiwana, 26, is found shot in the
head in his car in Surrey.
Sources say Tiwana was selling cocaine when a customer
decided to steal a kilo and murdered Tiwana in the
process.
Aug. 4, 2000 --
Sanjeev Gill is shot and wounded outside Bar None,
in downtown Vancouver.
July 27, 2000
-- Gurinder Singh Johal, 22, is shot to death in
Port Coquitlam. His brother, Bobby Johal, 24, is
wounded. Bobby is a former associate of Gurinder
Khun Khun, killed in 1997.
May 13, 2000 --
Mike Brar, 21, acting as a bodyguard for alleged
cocaine trafficker Ranjit Singh Cheema, is shot
to death outside a west-side Vancouver wedding attended
by hundreds of people, including former premier
turned Federal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh. Sources
say Robbie Kandola arranged the hit on the popular
Brar.
Feb. 14, 2000
-- The charred body of 21-year-old Rishi Singh,
of Vancouver, is found dumped near Squamish. His
burned car is later found in Surrey. Robbie Soomel
and Daljit (Umboo) Basran are arrested but released
a day later.
Sept. 3, 1999 -- Vikash Naidu, 23, of Vancouver,
and Kuldeep Singh, 25, of Richmond, are fatally
shot at close range in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven
in Richmond. Bal Buttar says he was the "middleman"
in arranging the hit on
Singh, but that Naidu was simply in the wrong place
at the wrong time.
May 20, 1999 -- The body of Deepak Sodhi, 19, of
Vancouver, is found on a dike in Delta with gunshot
wounds. Robbie Soomel remains a suspect in the murder.
Dec. 20, 1998 -- Bhupinder Singh (Bindy) Johal,
27, is shot dead at Vancouver's Palladium nightclub.
Bal Buttar says he arranged the hit on Johal for
$20,000 after the notorious cocaine dealer became
reckless and started killing some of his own associates.
Nov. 29, 1998 -- Johal friend Roman (Danny) Mann,
22, is found murdered in New Westminster. Buttar
says Johal killed Mann because Mann wanted out of
the criminal organization.
Nov. 18, 1998 -- Moderate Sikh newspaper publisher
Tara Singh Hayer is shot dead in his Surrey garage.
A gangland trial last year heard that Indo-Canadian
gangsters were paid $50,000 by the Babbar Khalsa
terrorist group to kill Hayer, who was to be a witness
at the Air India trial.
Oct. 7, 1998 -- Drug dealer Vikash Chand, 26, is
shot dead outside Rags to Riches Motorcars in Burnaby.
Johal went to the scene with Buttar and Mann because
he was shocked by his friend Chand's death. Buttar
says Johal was
not involved in the murder.
Sept. 19, 1998 -- Johal associate Derek Chand Shankar,
19, is found shot to death under the Queensborough
Bridge in New Westminster. Buttar says he witnessed
Johal shoot Shankar after Shankar insulted the crime
boss earlier in the evening.
Oct. 21, 1997 -- Gorinder Singh Khun Khun, 24,
is shot dead in Vancouver. While Khun Khun had been
hanging out with Johal in the period before his
death, Buttar says Johal ordered the hit because
he suspected Khun Khun was
the shooter in the 1994 attempt on Johal's life
that left his neighbour Glen Olson dead.
Jan. 19, 1997 -- Amarjit Singh Dheil, 31, is gunned
down as he leaves the Marpole Community Centre in
Vancouver after a late-night floor hockey game.
Buttar says the hit was ordered by Johal.
Oct. 11, 1995 -- Suspected drug dealer Paul Jabbal,
22, dies after being found at Southeast Marine Drive
and Elliott in Vancouver with gunshot wounds. Sources
say Jabbal was killed after becoming addicted to
his own product, reducing his profits from illegal
drug sales.
June 10, 1995 -- The charred body of Peter Manjeet
Dosanj is found in a stolen van set afire in a Delta
field. Police say the death is linked to the drug
underworld.
April 24, 1994 -- Johal's neighbour, Glen Olson,
is walking a dog when he is shot dead. Police suspect
he was mistaken for Johal by associates of Ron Dosanjh.
Buttar says Khun Khun was the likely shooter.
April 19, 1994 -- Drug dealer Ranjit Singh (Ron)
Dosanjh, former head of the Vancouver branch of
the International Sikh Youth Federation, is killed
on Kingsway. Johal and associates are eventually
charged, but acquitted.
Feb. 25, 1994 -- Drug dealer Jimsher Singh (Jimmy)
Dosanjh, Ron's brother, is shot dead. Johal and
associates are eventually charged and acquitted.
Dec. 2, 1991 -- Sanjay Narain, who witnessed the
murder of Parminder Chana, is thrown off the Cleveland
Dam, allegedly for "yapping" too much
about the Parminder Chana killing.
Oct. 11, 1991 -- Parminder Chana is murdered, apparently
because he was dating the sister of Rajinder (Little)
Benji, who is charged with the murder but is acquitted.
Faizal Dean, a Johal associate, is convicted of
second-degree murder.
March 14, 1991 -- Sikh moderate leader Bikar Singh
Dhillon is shot and wounded outside his home. The
hit is believed to have been arranged by a political
opponent, drug dealer Ron Dosanjh.
