Canada: Bishnoi gang member jailed for 6 yrs for firing at AP Dhillon’s house

An Indo-Canadian linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang has been sentenced to six years in prison in connection with arson and firing at the residence of Punjabi-language entertainer AP Dhillon in September last year.

A wanted poster issued by police for Vikram Sharma, who Canadian investigators believe has fled to India. ((Credit: West Shore RCMP))

A judge of the Victoria Provincial Cout in British Columbia sentenced 26-year-old Abjeet Kingra to two years in jail for arson damaging property and six years for intentionally discharging a firearm into a place knowing or being reckless as to whether another person was present, or being reckless as to the life or safety of another person. The court also imposed a lifetime firearms prohibition on Kingra.

The sentences will be served concurrently. The judge noted that Kingra’s involvement “was not isolated” and he had a “connection to the Lawrence Bishnoi crime group in India and that he was acting on their instructions to commit targeted criminal acts in Canada,” according to a release from the West Shore detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or RCMP.

The sentence came three days prior to the Federal Government listing the Bishnoi gang as a terrorist entity on September 29.

Kingra was arrested on October 30 last year. There is an arrest warrant out for a second suspect in the case, 24-year-old Vikram Sharma, who Canadian investigators believe has fled to India.

On September 2, 2024, officers of the West Shore RCMP responded to reports saying “shots fired and vehicles on fire”. Officers located two vehicles fully engulfed in flames” at a residence in Vancouver Island and “discovered evidence that multiple gunshots had been fired at and into a residence,” the release said. “An occupant of the home was safely evacuated by police,” it added. The local fire department had extinguished the fires. The occupant was not identified.

“While we are pleased to see accountability in this case, our work is not done. We remain committed to locating Vikram Sharma and bringing him before the courts,” said inspector Stephen Rose, acting officer in charge of West Shore RCMP.

Targeting of Amritpal Singh or AP Dhillon’s home was among the rash of violent incidents, many extortion-related, that have plagued the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia as well as the Greater Toronto Area or GTA and Edmonton in Alberta in the last couple of years.

In the latest such incident, six shots were fired at the studio of local channel Swift Radio in Surrey on Monday night. Former BC Minister Jinny Sims, who hosts a show on the channel, told the outlet Vancouver Sun that it was “a direct attack on the talk-show hosts.” The channel, which caters to the Indo-Canadian community, had attacked the Lawrence Bishnoi gang and hosted Surrey Police Chief Norm Lipinski in that regard on the morning of the attack.