Punjabi-origin youth shot dead in Canada

A Canada-born youth of a Punjabi family hailing from Sudhar village in Ludhiana was shot dead in West Abbotsford on Friday, allegedly during the ongoing British Columbia gang conflict among drug peddlers.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) of Abbotsford confirmed the murder and its links to gang rivalry. It identified the deceased as 28-year-old Navpreet Singh Dhaliwal.

Dony Bal, who had earlier claimed responsibility for the murders of Kabaddi promoter Rana Balachaur and sarpanch Jarmal Singh, has now taken responsibility for Dhaliwal’s killing.

Sources in Dhaliwal’s native village said Navpreet had rarely visited the area during his adulthood. Former block committee chairman and SAD leader Mehar Singh Dhaliwal said the deceased was his cousin Nazar Singh Dhaliwal’s grandson. Navpreet’s father Gurjinder Singh Dhaliwal had moved to Canada in 1995, two years before Navpreet’s birth.

On the day of the incident, Navpreet and his mother were alone at home, as his father had gone to attend to his grandfather, who was admitted to a hospital in Abbotsford. “The assailants broke open the door and shot Navpreet in the leg while he was preparing for an exam in his study. Before his mother could call the police, the intruders had finished their job,” said Mehar Singh Dhaliwal.

The Abbotsford police received a report of the shooting at 12.38 am on January 9 at a residence in the 3200 block of Siskin Drive. Navpreet was found seriously injured and later succumbed to his injuries at the scene.

According to the police, Navpreet was already on the radar of law enforcement agencies and had been linked to the BC gang conflict. The killing was described as targeted, with responsibility claimed by Dony Bal and Mohabbat Randhawa. In a social media post, the two alleged that Navpreet was planning to kill them in Surrey and would have harmed them if they had not acted first.

Navpreet’s name had earlier figured among more than half a dozen drug peddlers identified during a large-scale drug trafficking investigation launched by the Abbotsford Police Drug Enforcement Unit in 2022. He was arrested in 2024 and later released on conditions restricting his movement outside home and use of social media.

Meanwhile, activists led by SAD youth leader Prabhjot Singh Dhaliwal have urged the Ministry of External Affairs to intervene to protect Punjabi youth caught in the nexus of drug peddlers and gangsters in Canada. “Given the circumstances, the Centre should hold joint meetings with senior officials of the MEA and the Canadian government and persuade Punjabi youth settled there to distance themselves from the world of crime,” he said.