Three of five young men charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping of Abbotsford teenager also charged in four armed robberies in Manitoba days later

Harmandeep Gill of Brampton, Ravdeep Gill of Winnipeg, Jaskaran Singh of Surrey, charged in Jan. 27 killing in B.C. followed by four armed robberies near Winnipeg, Feb. 7 to 14

What is the thread that connects five young men from four Canadian cities in three different provinces charged with kidnapping, sexually assaulting, then murdering a 19-year-old man in January?

So far their South Asian heritage are all that obviously connects the men this early in the legal proceedings, which are made more complicated in court by the need for translators. Then there is the alleged involvement of three of the men in armed robberies in Manitoba two weeks after the B.C. murder.

The case began with allegations of a violent kidnapping in Abbotsford on Jan. 27, 2025. This was followed by transport, including unlawful confinement, through Langley and Surrey ending in a 19-year-old victim dumped in the Crescent Beach area of Surrey with severe injuries that he would succumb to.

Five young men face charges: Surrey residents Jaskaran Singh age 20 and Bipanpreet Singh age 22, along with Winnipeg resident Ravdeep Gill age 21, and Brampton resident Harmandeep Gill age 26, are each charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, and sexual assault with a weapon, threats, or causing bodily harm. Abbotsford resident Inderpreet Khosa, 19, is charged with unlawful confinement. 

When the charges were approved by the B.C. Prosecution Service in August 2025, the Lower Mainland’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) said the incident was believed to be targeted but not related to the B.C. gang conflict. They did not say if it was or was not believed to be related to the ongoing extortion crisis in the Lower Mainland.

The men appeared through their lawyers along with a translator in Abbotsford Provincial Court on Nov. 12. All are remanded in custody, Harmandeep Gill to Nov. 28 to consult legal counsel, the other four to Dec. 18, the three charged with murder to fix a future date, Khosa for a bail hearing.

Murder then Manitoba mayhem

In a further as-of-yet unexplained twist in the case of these five young men from across Canada, three of those charged in the January murder were allegedly involved in four armed robberies in four distant Manitoba communities in between two and three weeks following the B.C. homicide.

The two Gills and Jaskaran Singh, along with another man, Dilpreet Singh Sekhon, 24, of Surrey, are accused of robbing gas stations and other businesses between Feb. 7 and 14 in four communities: Winnipeg, the Swan Lake First Nation just west of Winnipeg, and in the tiny villages of Teulon north of Winnipeg and in Saint Laurent west of Teulon. They were then arrested much farther west in Brandon, Manitoba, on Feb. 16, 2025, before committing a planned fifth robbery, according to major crimes investigators. The Winnipeg Police Service Tactical Support Team intervened and the four men were arrested without incident.

This investigation involved the Winnipeg Police, the RCMP, the Manitoba First Nations Police, and the Brandon Police Service.

A representative from Manitoba Justice responded to a question about the status of the file to say that a trial for all four men charged with four counts each of robbery with a firearm are scheduled in court in Winnipeg Nov. 16 to Dec. 3, 2026.

With regard to the alleged kidnapping and homicide in Abbotsford and Surrey, when charges were laid in August, a spokesperson for the Lower Mainland’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) said the investigation involved collaboration between several agencies: the Abbotsford Police Department, RCMP Surrey Provincial Operations Support Unit, Surrey Police Service, the Integrated Forensic Identification Service, BC Coroners Service, Winnipeg Police Service and Manitoba RCMP Division Major Crime Unit

“IHIT would like to thank all our partners for their support and assistance with this investigation,” said Cpl. Sukhi Dhesi of IHIT in a news release.

Gangs, extortion or something else

All this comes amid ongoing intense discussion about conflicts within the B.C. South Asian community over extortions and shootings, discussions about the Bishnoi Gang and fear in the neighbourhoods affected.

There have already been reports of more than 100 extortion incidents in Surrey, Abbotsford and Delta so far in 2025, including 28 in Abbotsford as of Nov. 7, 2025.

A timeline of extortions, some of which from a CBC report

• December 2023 – Satish Kumar, president of a Surrey temple said his son’s home was targeted. Around this time a series of extortions are also reported in Toronto.
• January 2024 – Kumar leads a community event to draw attention to the extortions.
• July 2024 – The Canadian Trucking Association of B.C. organizes a meeting saying its members are being targeted.
• August 2024 – Truck company owner Jas Arora reports he’s been targeted at his home and not for the first time, releasing video of someone showing glass bottles at his home and pouring gasoline on his property.
• September 2024 – Punjabi rapper A.P. Dhillon’s home on Victoria was targeted.  Media in India reported that Rohit Godara, a member of India-based Lawrence Bishnoi gang claimed responsibility for the Dhillon shooting.
• October 2024 – Federal RCMP commissioner Michael Duheme connects the Bishnoi Gang to the Indian government, stating that Mounties have evidence showing Indian government involvement at the "highest levels" in the campaign of violence on Canadian soil. The Bishnoi Gang is one of a number of criminal enterprises from Punjab and Haryana in northern India that have spread into North America in recent years, according to federal police.
• June 2025 – Kumar’s home is shot at again and he holds another public meeting. A trucking company in Surrey is fired at again.
• July 2025 – A café owned by a Bollywood actor was shot at for the first of two times. 
• August 2025 – The café is shot at again and a molotov cocktail is found at the scene. Shots were also fired at a Surrey car wash. 
• September 2025 – City of Surrey announces a $250,000 reward fund for information leading to any extortion convictions, and B.C. announces a task force. Also this month, Ottawa names the Bishnoi Gang a terrorist organization, one of a number of criminal gangs from Northern India that have spread into North America in recent years.
• October 2025 – Police announce a slew of arrests and charges related to three previous cases. A Surrey woman is shot and rushed to hospital in critical condition, believed to be the first extortion-related injury. The café is shot at a third time.
• November 2025 – The Canada Border Services Agency announces it has investigated 78 foreign nationals and removed three from Canada. Surrey police report another shooting where a man who was working on a home is injured. The same home was targeted a second time a few days alter.

Meanwhile, it’s being increasingly hard for the general public to easily discern betweeen extortion-related violence, gang violence, or other criminal activity that may be unconnected to gangs and/or extortion. 

On that note, Abbotsford saw nine shootings in the months of September and October, one a homicide on Oct. 27 and in two people were injured, on Sept. 6 and Oct. 27, none of which have been so far connected to the extortions.

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Paul J. Henderson
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