Amandeep Singh Dhami to be extradited to the US.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Months after one of the gunmen involved in a fatal 2008 shooting in Sacramento was sentenced to life in prison, the second gunman is now set to be extradited to the US from India, after having been found hiding there for years.
Amandeep Singh Dhami was taken into custody by police in Jalandhar, Punjab, where he has been living under the false name of Jujhar Singh. Punjab police had arrested him for his involvement in a local crime, possibly involving drugs, when they received information from the FBI that they may have arrested a fugitive. The FBI and local police force determined that the arrested man was, in fact, Dhami, and set up the extradition to take place on an undisclosed day very soon.
Dhami is accused of being one of the two men, along with Gurpreet Singh Gosal, behind the slaying of 26 year-old Parmjit Pamma Singh. The shooting occurred outside the Bradshaw Gurudwara in Sacramento, California, after a Sikh sports festival which was being held there.
Gosal had an argument with the victim and two other men, one of whom – Shaib Jeet Singh – was also wounded in the ensuing altercation. Gosal and Dhami both fired shots, but it is believed that Dhami fired the bullet that ultimately killed Parmjit Pamma Singh on August 31, 2008.
Witnesses immediately attempted to keep Dhami and Gosal at the scene of the crime until the police arrived; they successfully subdued Gosal, but Dhami was able to escape. Police arrested Gosal and began looking for Dhami shortly thereafter, who by that point had already fled to Canada. He then left for India at some point, and apparently remained there until his arrest last week.
A resident of Indianapolis, Gosal flew into Sacramento the day of the shooting, and bought up 250 rounds of ammunition, indicating that the murder was pre-meditated. The animosity between Dhami and Parmjit Pamma Singh, according to testimony from Gosal’s trial earlier this year, stemmed from an argument that occurred at a nightclub in San Jose about a week prior to the shooting.
Dhami’s family was arrested shortly after the shooting in 2008, on suspicion of having aided and abetted his escape from the US, but the charges were ultimately dropped. The Sacramento Bee describes the Dhami family as “very wealthy,” and says they used to be one of the most prominent Sikh families in the Sacramento area.
The patriarch of the family, Balbir, was killed at home in a 2011 shooting that still has not been solved by authorities. He allegedly had links to the drug trade, and used his trucking company as a front for illegal activities.
Gosal has been serving his sentence since August, and is eligible for parole in 35 years. Dhami is facing charges for the murder of Parmjit Pamma Singh, the attempted murder of Shaib Jeet Singh, and numerous other charges for fleeing the scene of a murder, avoiding arrest, and other crimes. It is unclear how much jail time he may face.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com