Reports in Indian media are linking Monday’s shooting in Colwood to a feud between a criminal gang leader and a Bollywood superstar over the alleged poaching of antelope in a nature preserve in India about two decades ago.
Gunshots were fired into rising Punjabi music star AP Dhillon’s Colwood home, and two cars in the driveway were set on fire just after 1 a.m. Monday.
Media outlets in India, many of which erroneously said the shooting took place in Vancouver or on “Victoria Island,” reported that an India-based gang has claimed responsibility, saying on social media that the gang was upset that Dhillon collaborated on a music video with Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, with whom the gang has a long-standing feud.
The Times Colonist could not independently verify the Indian media reports.
RCMP on Tuesday did not answer questions about the shooting, citing an ongoing investigation.
“We are aware of the claims that are circulating online and though we cannot provide further details, I can tell you that the file remains very active,” RCMP E Division Cpl. Alex Bérubé said in a statement.
Kiran Singh, host of A Very Punjabi Podcast and former investigative journalist with CBC Vancouver, said if the reports from media in India are true — “They’re not really known for their fact-checking” — there could be a connection between Monday’s shooting and previous criminal threats that targeted well-off Punjabi singers, actors and business owners.
On Nov. 24, 2023, there was a similar incident at the West Vancouver home of Bollywood singer and actor Gippy Grewal.
Khan has been accused of poaching two blackbuck deer, an endangered species also known as Indian antelope, in a wildlife preserve in 1998 while filming a movie near the western India city of Jodhpur.
He has been acquitted in two related cases and is appealing another case in which he was convicted in 2018.
In April this year, shots were fired into Khan’s Mumbai home.
“These gangsters, they don’t operate out of randomness. From what I know, they scope the area for hours, if not days,” Singh said.
Given that Dhillon’s music video featuring Khan came out last month, whoever did the hit could have easily taken multiple weeks to prepare, he said.
University of Victoria political science professor emerita Reeta Tremblay said that rivalries and feuds in India-based criminal gangs have become transnational, extending to Canada, the U.K., Australia and Germany.
In December, Abbotsford police said an extortion scheme targeting business owners in that city was suspected to have links with to a gang in India.
Victims, who were mainly affluent members of the South Asian community, were targeted over the messaging service WhatsApp and threatened with violence after demands for “large quantities of currency,” police said in a bulletin.
A police spokesperson later said police have not confirmed that the threats were linked to “incidences of violence” but that the investigation continues.
Tremblay said India has consistently accused Canada of harbouring gangs and terrorists who have entered this country through immigration channels. “I’m not saying that this is what’s happening, but this is what India is claiming.”
Singh said that those with criminal backgrounds looking to enter Canada would have to lie about their past. “If there were falsified documents, it likely happened in India, under the nose of the Indian government and not here in Canada.”
— with files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
>>> To comment on this article, write a letter to the editor: [email protected]
