British Columbia: Gangsters jailed 6 years in violent kidnapping

Gangsters jailed six years in violent Vancouver kidnapping

Kim Bolan, CanWest News Service

Published: Thursday, January 10, 2008

VANCOUVER -- Four gangsters who pleaded guilty to a violent kidnapping in which the victim's father was asked for $500,000 ransom were sentenced Wednesday to six years in jail.

B.C. Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Patrick Dohm accepted a joint recommendation from the Crown and defence for the six-year term, saying it was sufficient deterrence for the kidnappers and "more importantly, to other persons who may think this sort of crime will go unpunished."

The sentencing of Bobby Harminder Singh Atwal, 27, Jasraj Singh Bains, 27, Harkamal Singh Cheema, 27, and Mandeap Singh Johal, 28, ends a series of related kidnapping prosecutions in which the Crown convicted 11 separate gangsters in three brutal 2005 abductions.

The kingpin of the drug operation, Jethinder Singh (Roman) Narwal, was earlier convicted on 13 counts in all three cases and sentenced to 17 years with credit for time served.

Prosecutor Michel Huot laid out the facts of the final case, in which Abbotsford resident Khark Grewal was targeted by Narwal and the others because he lost 200 pounds of the gang's marijuana and they wanted compensation.

At Narwal's 2006 trial, Grewal's father Surjit Singh testified that Atwal, a childhood friend of his son, visited him before the kidnapping and demanded half a million dollars.

"Bobby Atwal said 80 to 90 boys of our community have died and that me and my son could also be injured," Surjit Grewal testified.

His son was kidnapped at gunpoint a few days later, taken to a Delta farm, beaten by Atwal, Bains, Cheema and Johal, stripped naked and given a shovel to dig his own grave.

Bruised and cut by straps on his wrists and ankles, Grewal managed to escape while he was being transported to a second location.

Atwal's father Harjit Singh Atwal, a former member of the now-banned International Sikh Youth Federation, was in court Wednesday and provided a letter of support. Harjit Atwal's other son Aneil was recently named as a defendant in a civil case brought by Laurie Tinga, a woman accidentally shot in the head in a shootout outside her condo.

Narwal's late father, Avtar Singh Narwal, was a leader of the terrorist Babbar Khalsa and a suspect in the Air India bombing when he drove into a lake a decade ago and drowned.

Raminder Singh (Mindy) Bhandher, the son of Air India suspect Balwant Singh Bhandher, was also in court supporting his friends Wednesday with about 20 others.

Defence lawyers for all four said they were hard-working productive citizens whose foray into crime was brief and limited.

Atwal lawyer Ian Donaldson said his client had no prior criminal record and was remorseful for what he had done. But he still denies ever being involved in the marijuana trade, Donaldson said.

Lawyer Russ Chamberlain provided almost 30 letters of support for Johal, who he said has a successful waste disposal business.

"He made a tremendous error in judgment,"Chamberlain explained.

Bains and Cheema also apologized to the court.

Dohm let all four men return home until Friday morning as Cheema wanted to attend the funeral of his grandmother today.