A judge has sentenced a man to two years in jail for fire and six years for downloading a firearm to a place where a person can be present for his role in the 2024 shooting in the musician and producer of Punjabi, AP Dhillon’s Colwood, BC, Home.
Abjeet Kingra, a 26 -year -old Winnipeg man, was sentenced in Victoria on September 26 after declaring himself guilty in August.
According to RCMP, the judge wrote in his decision that Kingra was acting in the direction of the Lawrence Bishnoi Crimes Group in India, to commit specific criminal acts in Canada.
The sentence occurred a few days before the federal government announced that it would list the Bishnoi gang, which is a transnational criminal organization that “is involved in murders, shootings and fires caused, and generates terror through extortion and intimidation”, as a terrorist entity.
RCMP says they have issued an arrest warrant for a second suspect, Vikram Sharma, who believes he left Canada.
“ABJEET Kingra’s sentence is the result of months of investigation work by our officers,” said INSP. Stephen Rose, an interim officer by West Shore RCMP.
“While we are pleased to see responsibility in this case, our work is not done. We are still committed to locating Vikram Sharma and take him to the courts.”
Kingra will fulfill its prayers simultaneously and it is expected to pass around 4½ in jail, after a while since its arrest in October 2024. The court also imposed a prohibition of firearms for life and an order of DNA on it.
Shots, vehicle fire
RCMP says they were called to Dhillon’s house in Colwood, located in the south of Vancouver Island, on September 2, 2024, after shots and flame vehicles.
When the officers arrived, the police say that two vehicles were “completely wrapped” in flames, and the evidence showed that multiple shots had been shot at home. A resident was evacuated from the house by the police, and the fire department extinguished the flames.
Kingra was arrested about two months later in Ontario, on October 30, 2024.
Shortly after the shooting, the media in India reported that a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, based in India, had assumed responsibility in the social networks of the law.
According to the Times of India, the member of the Rohit Godara gang warned Dhillon in a position that “he stays instead, or will find the death of a dog.” He mentioned the appearance of Bollywood Salman Khan star, against whom the gang has sworn revenge, in the recent Dhillon video for the song Old money.
Khan was accused of hunting a Blackbuck, a type of antelope revered by the Bishnoi community, in 1998, and was convicted of poaching 20 years later.
Two members of the Bishnoi gang were arrested after a shooting outside Khan’s house in India in April 2024. The gang also attributed the responsibility of a shooting outside the Bollywood singer and actor Gippy Grewal’s House in 2023, also in relation to Khan, the Indian media reported.
Public Safety Canada said in a statement that federal immigration officials will now have the right to deny people associated with the entry of gangs to Canada under the immigration and refugee protection law.
“They create a climate of insecurity in these communities by attacking them, their prominent community members, cultural companies and figures,” reads the statement.
Still suspicious in general
RCMP says they are working with the authorities to find and apprehend Sharma, who is desired for caused fires and download a firearm with intention.
It is believed that Sharma, 24, is currently in India, that West Shore RCMP Communications Official Corp., Nancy Saggar, said poses added challenges to research.
“If they are seen in another country, we will absolutely work with that country to bring them back to Canada to face positions and courts,” he said.
Saggar said that the Bishnoi gang is known to go to specific communities in Canada for “terror, violence and intimidation”, and said that anyone who receives a threat must communicate with his local police.
RCMP has also asked anyone with information about Sharma’s location to get in touch.
CBC News contacted Dhillon, but did not receive an answer before the publication.
