Canadian court sentences Indian-origin man to 25 years’ imprisonment for 2022 homicide

An Indian-origin man has been sentenced to 25 years in jail by a Canadian court in a three-year-old homicide case, media reports said.

A jury at the Supreme Court of British Columbia convicted 25-year-old Balraj Basra of first-degree murder and arson on Tuesday, City News reported.

Basra is the third man to be sentenced in the killing of 38-year-old Vishal Walia at a golf club on the lands of the University of British Columbia on October 17, 2022, CBC reported on Wednesday, citing the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team.

The two other convicts, Iqbal Kang (24) and Deandre Baptiste (21), were sentenced earlier.

While Kang was jailed for 17 years with an additional five-year concurrent sentence for arson, Baptiste was sentenced to life in prison with no parole eligibility for 17 years, the report said.

The three convicts torched a vehicle after fatally shooting Walia, following which the police were called, the report said.

Officers from the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) quickly identified the suspects who fled the scene in another vehicle.

British Columbia Highway Patrol, the Richmond Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the VPD arrested the suspects a few minutes later, the report said.