http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouvers...40-c874932aeee1A 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 Sun
Published: Friday, June 10, 2005
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.
-- compiled by Kim Bolan