Tejpal Singh, 30 sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for Murder
of 24-year-old Kamaljit Singh eight years ago

New York, Dec. 20, 2004
NRI Press

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown today announced that a Richmond Hill man has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the August 1996 shooting in Richmond Hill, Queens in which two Sikh males were shot, one fatally. A shooting spawned by a bitter Sikh temple dispute in Richmond Hill

Nearly 80 members from rival groups in the Sikh community were in State Supreme Court in Kew Gardens when Tejpal Singh, 30, continued to insist that a jury wrongly convicted him of second-degree murder in the death of Kamaljit Singh, 19, and the attempted murder of Ramjit Singh, 29.

District Attorney Brown said, “The defendant fled to Canada to evade prosecution. An international manhunt led to his apprehension and prosecution. The defendant has been held accountable for his crime and will have the rest of his life to reflect upon the terrible result of his lethal violence.”

"I'm innocent of the charges... " said Tejpal Singh, an Indian national whom the jury took less than three hours to convict on Oct. 19. "I drink from the same bitter cup of sorrow as the victim's family."

Ramjit Singh and others testified that Tejpal Singh fired a handgun at him and a group of other men from the front passenger seat of a black Chevrolet Blazer on Aug. 25, 1996, in front of Ramjit Singh's home at 123-16 97th Ave.

Ramjit Singh and Kamaljit Singh were both shot in the back as they tried to flee.

"I saw him [the defendant] start shooting," Ramjit Singh told the jury. "When I heard the bullets, I tried to run and I got shot."

But rival Sikh groups closely watched the case, and some of the victims' supporters have linked the shooting to elections at Sikh Cultural Society in which their side won.

Tejpal Singh's father, Gurbhej Sandhu, 60, was on the losing side and is now trustee board chairman at a newly formed temple, Guru Nanak Mission.

"I'm feeling very, very bad," Sandhu said after the sentencing. "My son is innocent. I want justice."

"I say shame, shame, shame to all of you," Assistant District Attorney Michelle Goldstein said to Tejpal Singh's supporters while chastising them for thwarting the authorities' attempts to arrest him sooner.

Defense attorney Steve Brounstein said Justice Michael Aloise received 800 letters from Tejpal Singh's supporters asking for leniency.

But the judge was in no mood to give it.

District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Tejpal Singh, 30, of 91-39 111th Street, Richmond Hill, Queens. He was convicted on October 19, 2004 of Murder in the Second Degree, Attempted Murder in the Second Degree, Assault in the First Degree, Reckless Endangerment in the First Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael D. Aloise who imposed today’s sentence.

The defendant was apprehended in September 2000 in Summerland, British Columbia after a joint investigation by the New York Police Department’s 102nd Precinct Detective Squad, Queens Homicide Unit and the Cold Case Squad. The investigation is ongoing.

The 1996 shooting left police puzzled until two detectives picked up the case in 1998 and tracked the shooter to a tiny farming community two hours northeast of Vancouver, according to an article in a law enforcement journal.

The two other men believed to have been involved in the shooting still remain at large, the DA said. One was released on $1 bail in November 1996, according to a court receipt, and sources said the other suspect fled to India.

An investigation was continuing.

The drive-by murder highlighted a 5-year-old conflict within the Richmond Hill Sikh community over control of the 118th Street temple, which was the largest Sikh religious center on the East Coast before it burned down in March 2002.

In 1993, shots were fired into a crowd during a temple general election. The following year police spent more than three hours breaking up a riot after a disputed election for the Sikh's president. Two sects of Sikhs emerged during the tensions - the Jat Sikhs and Lobana Sikhs.

Kamaljit Singh was a Lobana Sikh, Tejpal a Jat Sikh.

By 1999, the Lobanas had broken away from the Sikh Cultural Society to form their own temple on 101st Avenue at 113th Street.

The Sikh Cultural Center is currently under reconstruction, former president Harpreet Singh Toor said, and will be rebuilt within the next three years.

He does not believe the shooting stemmed from a dispute between the two sects, as was reported when Tejpal Singh was arraigned in 2002. He did say that the Lobana Sikhs had formed their own temple.

"It is a terrible, terrible incident in the first place," Toor said. "The lives of a lot of people have been destroyed because of that incident."


Tejpal Singh Convicted Of Murder After Extradition From Canada



New York, Oct. 31, 2004
NRI Press

Tejpal Singh, 30, killed 24-year-old Kamaljit Singh eight years ago when he fired shots at a group of people standing in front of a house on 97th Avenue in the rear passenger seats of a passing Chevrolet Blazer. Kamaljit Singh was hit once in the back and died of his injuries. Ramjit Singh was also shot in the back. He was seriously wounded but survived.

Tejpal Singh who fled the country after he was implicated in the murder of another Sikh and the shooting of another in 1996 was convicted of murder and assault and faces up to 50 years in prison.

Singh fled the scene of the crime with two accomplices and fell off the radar screen of local police, who then set to tracking him down outside the area. A manhunt by the 102nd Precinct Detective Squad, the Queens Homicide Unit and Cold Case Squad tracked him to a rural town in northwestern Canada 100 miles east of Vancouver and 50 miles north of the U.S. border, where he was apprehended by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 2000.

“The defendant fled to Canada to evade prosecution. An international manhunt led to his apprehension in Summerland, British Columbia from where he was extradited to face trial. A jury has now found him guilty and he faces a long prison sentence. Justice has been done,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.

Tejpal Singh was convicted on five counts including second-degree murder, attempted murder and first-degree assault. He will be sentenced on December 7th.