NEW DELHI: A Canada-born Punjabi youth from Sudhar village in Ludhiana was shot dead in West Abbotsford on Friday, allegedly as part of an ongoing gang conflict among drug peddlers in British Columbia.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) of Abbotsford had earlier confirmed that the murder was linked to gang activity but had withheld the victim’s identity. The deceased has now been identified as 28-year-old Navpreet Singh Dhaliwal.
Dony Bal, who had previously claimed responsibility for the murders of Kabaddi promoter Rana Balachaur and Sarpanch Jarmal Singh, has reportedly taken responsibility for Navpreet’s killing.
Sources from Dhaliwal’s native village said he had rarely visited Sudhar during his adulthood.
Former Block Committee chairman and SAD leader Mehar Singh Dhaliwal stated that the deceased was the grandson of his cousin Nazar Singh.
Navpreet’s father, Gurjinder Singh Dhaliwal, had moved to Canada in 1995, two years before Navpreet’s birth.
On the day of the shooting, Navpreet and his mother were at home while his father cared for his grandfather, Nazar Singh Dhaliwal, at a hospital in Abbotsford.
“They broke open the door and shot a bullet in Navpreet’s leg while he was preparing for an exam in his study. Before his mother could call police, the intruders had finished their job,” said Mehar Singh Dhaliwal.
Abbotsford police received a report of the shooting at 12:38 am on January 9, at the 3200 block of Siskin Drive. Navpreet was found seriously injured and later succumbed to his injuries at the scene. The case was subsequently transferred to IHIT, which confirmed it was linked to the ongoing gang war in British Columbia.
According to Abbotsford police, Navpreet had previously been on law enforcement’s radar and had been linked to the BC gang conflict. The investigating team described the murder as a targeted killing.
Dony Bal and Mohabbat Randhawa claimed responsibility in a social media post, alleging that Navpreet was preparing to kill them in Surrey and would have harmed them if they had not acted first.
Navpreet’s name had also surfaced 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 under conditions restricting his movement and social media use.