Close X
Monday, November 25, 2024
ADVT 
International

Sikh Man Stabbed To Death In California After Refusing To Sell Cigarettes, Wife, 2 Sons Grieve

Darpan News Desk IANS, 08 May, 2017 10:26 AM
    A 32-year-old Sikh man has been stabbed to death by an unidentified person allegedly over cigarettes outside a grocery store in California, the third Indian-origin victim to be killed in a week in the US state.
     
    Jagjeet Singh, who was a clerk at the Hatch Food and Gas convenience store, came to the US 18 months ago and stayed with his sister and brother-in-law in Modesto. 
     
    Mr Singh, who hailed from Punjab's Kapurthala city, reportedly had an altercation with one of the customers who came to buy cigarettes on Friday, FOX40 reported.
     
    Another clerk at the store Sukhwinder Singh, describing the events that led to the fatal encounter, said the outburst began apparently over being asked for an ID and Jagjeet Singh had refused to sell cigarettes to the unidentified person as he did not show any proper ID.
     
     
    The man then reportedly left the store in a hurry, mouthing racist abuses and warning him of dire consequences. The entire sequence was captured by a CCTV camera installed in the store premises.
     
    The customer then returned angry, 30 minutes later, and took Jagjeet Singh's life when he was about to close the store, Singh said.
     
    He was soon rushed to the hospital where he struggled for his life for nine hours before finally succumbing to his injuries, the report said.
     
    Yesterday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj spoke to Indian ambassador in the US Navtej S Sarna in the wake reports of killing of a Sikh man in a suspected hate crime in that country.
     
    Modesto police are yet to determine the motive behind the attack and there is no official word about the killer.
     
     
    "Paramedics responded because an employee had collapsed and they thought this to be a medical issue," said Officer Eric Schuller with Modesto police to Fox40. "When they arrived on scene they found that this employee has actually been stabbed."
     
    "He's a hard worker, hard-working nice guy...no problems, very calm, everything, he never was threatening, never yelled at a customer," said Monica Rodriguez, another clerk at the store.
     
    "It's just a very sad situation what happened to him because nobody deserves that over something so small," Rodriguez said.
     
    Friends at the store say he was a husband and father who had only been on the payroll in California for one month "in hopes of supporting his family back in India."
     
     
    Meanwhile, Rights group The Sikh Coalition said it has urged the Modesto Police Department to leave no stone unturned in their investigation into the killing, including examining the possibility of this being a hate crime.
     
    This was the third such incident involving killing of Indian-origin people in California since Wednesday night in two separate incidents.
     
    On Wednesday night, Indian-origin Naren Prabhu, a Silicon Valley technology executive and his wife, were shot at their home in San Jose by their daughter's ex-boyfriend who was eventually shot dead in a standoff with the police. 
     
    Mirza Tatlic, 24, fatally shot the couple in an apparent revenge attack.
     
    On Thursday, A 32-year-old doctor, Ramesh Kumar, has been shot dead under mysterious circumstances in a car in the US state of Michigan.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    Canada, U.S. Hoping For Progress On Border Preclearance For Monday Meeting

    Canada, U.S. Hoping For Progress On Border Preclearance For Monday Meeting
    The two countries have been pecking away for years at a list of items intended to bolster continental security while ensuring the speedy flow of goods and people across the border.

    Canada, U.S. Hoping For Progress On Border Preclearance For Monday Meeting

    Chinese Soldier, Who Accidentally Crossed Border And Came To India, Returns Home After 54 Years

    Chinese Soldier, Who Accidentally Crossed Border And Came To India, Returns Home After 54 Years
    Wang Qi, 77, was received by his Chinese relatives, as well as the officials from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Indian Embassy.

    Chinese Soldier, Who Accidentally Crossed Border And Came To India, Returns Home After 54 Years

    Trudeau Meets Trump: How Past PMs Have Dealt With Unpopular U.S. Presidents

    Canada's prime minister has to go see the U.S. president, and he's not especially thrilled. The president is deeply unpopular in Canada — and elsewhere, since campaigning on protectionism and tariffs.

    Trudeau Meets Trump: How Past PMs Have Dealt With Unpopular U.S. Presidents

    ISIS Continues To Recruit From Af-Pak Border Region: UN Report

    The report noted that a UN Member State reported that ISIS had around 2,000 to 3,500 fighters overall in Afghanistan but that number had not fallen significantly despite heavy losses sustained in 2016.

    ISIS Continues To Recruit From Af-Pak Border Region: UN Report

    US Firms Going Abroad Can't Say 'Bye-Bye And Fire Everybody', Warns Donald Trump

    In his weekly address to the nation, Donald Trump also said that he is working on a major tax reform which would massively reduce taxes of American workers and businesses.

    US Firms Going Abroad Can't Say 'Bye-Bye And Fire Everybody', Warns Donald Trump

    Woman Says 'Justice' In Sexual Assault Case Came At Personal Cost

    Woman Says 'Justice' In Sexual Assault Case Came At Personal Cost
    While the 22-year-old Nova Scotia woman says ultimately "justice was served" by the courts, she maintains it came at such a personal cost she would have been better off had she never gone to the authorities.

    Woman Says 'Justice' In Sexual Assault Case Came At Personal Cost