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VOL 25 - ISSUE 18
www.theasianstar.com SATURDAY, JUNE 14 2025
Surrey temple president says shootings at his businesses connected to ongoing extortion attempts
Canada’s last minute G-7 invite to Modi signals a thaw
A Surrey, B.C., man says two recent shootings at his businesses are connected to ongoing extortion attempts targeting the South Asian community. Satish Kumar, the president of the city's Lakshmi Narayan Mandir temple, said he received video voicemails on May 28 from numbers listed as being from Italy and New Zealand that demanded $2 million. He said he refused to pay and reported it to police at the time, but officials took no action. In the early hours of June 7, shots were fired at the banquet hall he owns, he said. Shots were fired, he said, at another business he's connected to, Hub Insurance, on Tuesday.
As last minute invitations go, this one went down to the wire. After an initial snub, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed that Canada has invited him to the upcoming Group of Seven summit. President Donald Trump’s trade war is bringing the two nations, whose relations have been strained in recent years, closer together. India isn’t a member of the G-7 — a grouping of the world’s richest countries comprising the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Japan. Continued on Page 10...
No one was injured in the shootings at the businesses. He said he's holding a public forum on Sunday, and announcing a $100,000 reward to encourage the community to help bring an end to the extortion and violence. "I'm requesting the community [to] come forward," he said. "Don't be scared of these guys, right? They don't want to kill you. They want only money from you guys." Kumar said that if community members come together, they can help find the shooters who live in Metro Vancouver as well as the extortionists. Continued on Page 3...
South Asian Man killed in daytime shooting in Surrey received extortion calls
The brazen murder of an Abbotsford man with no known criminal ties has reignited extortion fears in B.C.’s Lower Mainland. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) says Abbotsford resident Satwinder Sharma was shot dead in his business near 160 Street and 84 Avenue in Surrey around 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday. While police believe the incident was targeted, Sgt. Freda Fong said police won’t speculate about the motive at this point. “It is still early on in the investigation, and we are aware that there are unconfirmed reports and speculation on the motive behind the shooting,” she said. “We are looking at all angles.” But the killing has sent a chill through the region’s South Asian community, where speculation of a link to extortionists has spread quickly. Police in B.C. and across Canada have been investigating extortion attempts targeting businesses, often in the South Asian community, since at least November 2023. This month, police responded to shootings on June 7 at Reflections Banquet Hall and June 10 at Hub Insurance.
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Gangster tells why India's biggest hip-hop star was murdered It was a killing that shocked India: Punjabi hip-hop star Sidhu Moose Wala shot dead through the windscreen of his car by hired gunmen. Within hours, a Punjabi gangster named Goldy Brar had used Facebook to claim responsibility for ordering the hit. But three years after the murder, no-one has faced trial - and Goldy Brar is still on the run, his whereabouts unknown. Now, BBC Eye has managed to make contact with Brar and challenged him about how and why Sidhu Moose Wala became a target. His response was coldly articulate.
"In his arrogance, he [Moose Wala] made some mistakes that could not be forgiven," Brar told. Continued on Page 15...
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Family says Canadian dentist was aboard Air India flight that crashed after takeoff The Canadian citizen believed to be on an Air India flight that crashed shortly after takeoff is a dentist who worked in Mississauga,
Ont., her family has confirmed. The husband of Nirali Sureshkumar Patel said she was on board the London-bound flight that crashed in northwestern India on Thursday, killing at least 240 people. Patel's dental clinic referred The Canadian Press to the husband, who said that he was in the process of booking travel to India for himself and the couple's one-year-old child. "That was my wife," he said during a brief telephone call. "I am not in a state to speak right now." Continued on Page 10...