The Immigration and Refugee Board has ordered the deportation of a gunman hired by India’s Lawrence Bishnoi gang to conduct a shooting on Vancouver Island.
Abjeet Kingra, an Indian citizen who entered Canada on a student visa, was found inadmissible to Canada on Monday for being a member of a criminal organization.
At the behest of the Bishnoi gang, the former Winnipeg resident fired 14 bullets at a Colwood, B.C. home, while his colleague torched the homeowners’ vehicles.
Both are accused of a similar attack in Surrey, B.C.
Kingra is the latest to face deportation amid a nationwide crackdown on extortion gangs that are preying on Canada’s South Asian communities.
The Canada Border Services Agency has opened more than 400 investigations and expelled 55 suspects in response to the extortion crisis, according to a spokesperson.
Officials believe the Bishnoi gang, headed by imprisoned Indian mobster Lawrence Bishnoi, is responsible for the majority of the extortion-related violence.
Like many Bishnoi members, Kingra was granted a visa to study in Canada. He was working at a Winnipeg moving company when he was recruited.
In its decision, the Refugee Board said a B.C. judge had found that Kingra was a member of the Bishnoi Gang and that the group was a criminal organization.
“The group is known to engage in murder, shootings, arsons, extortions and intimidation,” IRB Member Azeem Lalji said. “Law enforcement agencies have seen an increase in extortion-related incidents that they have attributed to Bishnoi-affiliated groups in B.C., Alberta and Ontario.”
“Law enforcement agencies in Canada have learned that the Indian diaspora community has been targeted with anonymous calls, text messages, social media messages and in-person contact with demands for cash, e-transfers, cryptocurrency payments or high-value goods,” he added.
“The victims are threatened with violence or damage to their properties if they do not comply.”
He said Bishoi’s top lieutenant in North America until recently was Goldy Brar. A subcontractor known as Goldy Dhillon worked for Brar and recruited foot soldiers into the gang, Lalji said.
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After Lalji delivered the decision, Kingra asked how he could appeal the ruling to the Federal Court.
At his deportation hearing on Thursday, Kingra said a co-worker offered him $4,000 to accompany him to B.C. to attack the home of Punjabi singer A.P. Dhillon on Sept. 2, 2024.
Within hours of the shooting, the Bishnoi gang posted a video on social media that Kingra had recorded, showing him firing a gun at the house.
Kingra testified he did not know he was working for the Bishnoi gang and only did it for easy money to send back to his parents in India.
But the CBSA said the crime group uses a system of insulation, so that each member only knows the person above them in hierarchy.
The CBSA also told the Refugee Board that Kingra had pleaded guilty to two charges that alleged the crimes were done at the “behest” of the Bishnoi gang.
Kingra is currently serving a six-year sentence for the shooting, while awaiting trial for the second shooting. He is due in court on June 18.
His alleged accomplice, Vikram Sharma, fled to India following the attacks and is wanted by the RCMP on multiple charges.
During his daylong hearing before the Refugee Board, Kingra displayed notable memory lapses, often saying he could not remember.
Appearing without a lawyer, he depicted himself as a simple-minded youth who may have been recruited for the shooting because he was “an idiot.”
“I know that I did a mistake and I got punishment for it,” he testified. But he said he was his parents’ only son and feared the Bishnoi gang would kill him if he was sent back to India.
The Refugee Board found that he provided no evidence of any dangers he might face in India.
CBSA official Jasbir Sandhu argued the attack on Dhillon’s home was not an extortion. Rather, Bishnoi was sending a message that it could reach anyone it wanted.
He also said Bishnoi had conducted murders in Canada, and that among the victims was B.C. Sikh temple leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
The RCMP has alleged the Indian government hired Bishnoi to kill Nijjar, a leader of the Khalistan movement that advocates for independence for India’s Punjab.
The gang has been most active in B.C., Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario, committing extortions, drug trafficking and murder-for-hire.
“The Bishnoi gang’s major operations continue to be orchestrated by Mr. Bishnoi himself from behind bars,” the CBSA official told the hearing.
Sandhu said Bishnoi uploads selfies from prison, as well as videos and photos of the gang’s activities, “in order to recruit young followers.”
Bishnoi allegedly used his Ontario-based lieutenant, Goldy Brar, to target Canadian Sikh business owners and entertainers, as well as pro-Khalistan activists.
To underscore the seriousness of their threats, Bishnoi members typically drive to the homes of their victims at night, shoot at them and set fire to their properties.
As Global News first reported, the Bishnoi gang brazenly sent a letter to a B.C. police station last August claiming it had 1,000 foot soldiers willing to carry out shootings.
The letter remains under investigation. But the CBSA said the criminal network is believed to have no more than 700 members worldwide.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
