Close X
Monday, November 25, 2024
ADVT 
International

Ex-California city council candidate who 'threatened' to burn gurdwara to appear in court

Darpan News Desk IANS, 21 Aug, 2023 11:51 AM
  • Ex-California city council candidate who 'threatened' to burn gurdwara to appear in court

New York, Aug 21 (IANS) A former Bakersfield city council Sikh candidate, who allegedly threatened to burn down a gurdwara in the Californian city, will be making a court appearance at the end of this month for a preliminary hearing, a media report said.

Rajvir Singh Gill, 60, was arrested in March on suspicion of trying to hire hit men to shoot members of Bakersfield Gurdwara Shaheed Baba Deep Singh Ji Khalsa Darbar, and burn down the property, the 23ABC News channel reported.

Gill, charged with seven counts of soliciting specified criminal acts, is expected to be back in Kern County Court for a motion on August 31, the news report said.

He will also be in court for his preliminary hearings on October 5 and 6, Gill was told after he made a brief court appearance on August 17.

According to police records, Gill had an ongoing dispute with specific members of the temple, and had also offered to pay someone to burn down the gurdwara.

He had attempted to run for City Council Ward 7 against Manpreet Kaur in 2022, who won and was the first Sikh Punjabi woman elected to the Bakersfield City Council.

Kaur had then issued a statement on the incident: "Hearing this news is distressing and frightening. This is one of our most highly attended Sikh temples locally. To hear of an alleged attempt to destroy a place of worship is heartbreaking and unfathomable."

An earlier report by 23ABC News cited a member from Sikh temple as saying that Gill had shown up at the property, disrupting prayers and threatening members of the congregation and carrying a gun before being arrested.

Gill offered $10,000 to two Hispanic men to kill certain leaders of the congregation who are involved in the court cases, temple member Sukhwinder Singh Ranghi had told the news channel earlier.

Ranghi claimed that Gill drove the men around the city pointing out the homes of the temple leaders he wanted to be killed.

He also alleged that Gill had instructed the men on how they could burn down the temple by exploiting faulty electrical wiring, installed by his own workers when the temple was built more than a decade ago.

MORE International ARTICLES

Padma Shri Raj Bothra acquitted of all charges in US trial

Padma Shri Raj Bothra acquitted of all charges in US trial
US attorneys said the defendants illicitly prescribed over 13 million pills and made false claims to illegally collect over $20 million from Medicare, over $17 million from Medicaid and over $15 million from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, from 2013 to 2018.

Padma Shri Raj Bothra acquitted of all charges in US trial

All eyes on airlines as July Fourth holiday weekend nears

All eyes on airlines as July Fourth holiday weekend nears
Problems were popping up well before the weekend, with some disruptions caused by thunderstorms that slowed air traffic. American Airlines canceled 8% of its flights on Tuesday and Wednesday, and United Airlines scrubbed 4% of its schedule both days, according to FlightAware.

All eyes on airlines as July Fourth holiday weekend nears

WHO: COVID-19 cases rising nearly everywhere in the world

WHO: COVID-19 cases rising nearly everywhere in the world
The biggest weekly rise in new COVID-19 cases was seen in the Middle East, where they increased by 47%, according to the report released late Wednesday. Infections rose by about 32% in Europe and Southeast Asia, and by about 14% in the Americas, WHO said.

WHO: COVID-19 cases rising nearly everywhere in the world

40 people found dead inside tractor-trailer in Texas

40 people found dead inside tractor-trailer in Texas
At least 40 people were found dead inside a tractor-trailer in San Antonio, Texas, local authorities said. The tractor-trailer truck was found on Monday evening next to railroad tracks in a remote area on the city's southern outskirts, Xinhua news agency reported citing local media as saying.

40 people found dead inside tractor-trailer in Texas

Indian-origin man shot dead execution-style in New York

Indian-origin man shot dead execution-style in New York
The News, quoting police sources, said that Satnam Singh had borrowed the jeep from a friend and detectives were looking into whether he was the shooter's intended target or had been mistakenly killed by someone who actually wanted to attack the owner of the vehicle.

Indian-origin man shot dead execution-style in New York

WHO adviser says G7 must prioritize COVID-19

WHO adviser says G7 must prioritize COVID-19
Dr. Bruce Aylward says in an interview that if getting control of the pandemic by investing in vaccines and treatments for all countries isn't important to the G7, it won't be important to anyone.

WHO adviser says G7 must prioritize COVID-19