A man who was shot and killed along with his 11-year-old son in southeast Edmonton in 2023 has been tied to a scheme to extort South Asian homebuilders in the Edmonton area. Harpreet Uppal is named in court documents obtained by CTV News Edmonton as a high-ranking member of the group that was involved in setting fires that caused more than $4 million in damages to newly built homes. The investigation into the extortions was dubbed “Project Gaslight” by the Edmonton Police Service. Uppal, along with Maninder Dhaliwal, Parmander Singh, Gurkaran Singh, Manav Heer, and Divnoor Singh Asht are listed as members of the Group that was involved in the scheme. The documents list Dhaliwal and Uppal (also known as Chacha) as high-level members of the Group, and members of the Brother’s Keeper crime group. Dhaliwal was arrested on unrelated charges in the United Arab Emirates in late 2024. The Edmonton Police Service has applied to extradite him to Alberta. According to the court documents, he left Canada for India in July 2023 and was living in the UAE while he was involved with the Group. Uppal and his son were killed while at a shopping complex in southeast Edmonton on Nov. 9, 2023. Police said both victims were targeted. Uppal had previously been targeted in a shooting at Royal Pizza in Edmonton on Oct. 8, 2021. The agreed statement of facts, which was filed on May 23, relates to the involvement of Asht, who has pleaded guilty to extortion, arson, and conspiring to commit arson. According to the documents, he was a middle manager for the Group, taking instructions from Dhaliwal and assigning lower-level members to commit offences and reporting back. The Group began its extortion schemes in October 2023. 1st arsons by the Group On Oct. 19, 2023, the owner of a local development company began to receive phone calls through WhatsApp. The caller demanded $500,000 and threatened that the man and his family would be killed if they didn’t pay. The caller also threatened to burn his house down. On the same day, the owner of a second development company, an associate of the owner of the first company, also received calls from WhatsApp, but he did not answer. Later that evening, an Edmonton Police Service officer met with the two men. As the officer was leaving the residence, a white Mitsubishi Outlander drove up in front of the house and fired several shots before speeding off. The passenger of that vehicle, Parminder Singh, fled on foot and was taken into custody. The two builders continued to receive threats and demands for money. According to the agreed statement of facts, Asht did not directly threaten either man, but was aware of the threats and conspired with others to carry out the extortions. On Nov. 6, 2023, a property owned by the second builder in the Aster neighbourhood in Edmonton was set on fire. An accelerant was used to start the fire, and surveillance cameras captured three people at the scene. The damage from the fire was $950,000. Another property owned by the second developer, also in the Aster neighbourhood, was set on fire on Nov. 12, causing an additional $950,000. An investigation revealed that an accelerant had also been used to set that fire. On Nov. 14, three hooded people carrying a red gas can attempted to set a fire at another property owned by the second developer in Leduc. A security guard who had been hired by the builder chased the attempted arsonists away. On Nov. 29, a private security guard at another property owned by the second developer in southeast Edmonton was attacked with a hammer. The security guard fled in his car as the assailants fired an airsoft gun at his vehicle. On Nov. 30, another fire was set at a property owned by the second developer in the Laurel neighbourhood. Police responded to the scene and stopped a vehicle that was leaving the scene, detaining four people. According to the agreed statement of facts, Asht sent a text message to Uppal after the first arson on Nov. 6 that read “Done chacha,” along with a photo of the fire and laughing emojis. Extortion scheme continues On Dec. 5, 2023, the Group began to target the owner of a third home building company, another member of the South Asian community in Edmonton, according to the agreed statement of facts. The owner received a WhatsApp call from an unknown number, but did not answer it. According to the agreed statement of facts, the next day he received a text message that said “We burnt [the second developer’s] three houses… You wanna play games… We are going to burn your houses in one night… Wanna play games, let’s go.” The builder did not respond. He says he received further calls but did not answer them. On Dec. 9, a fire was set at a property belonging to the third developer in Beaumont. The property was only in framing stages, so damages were limited to $5,000. On Dec. 14, a fire was started at a fully furnished show home owned by the third builder in Beaumont. According to the agreed statement of facts, because an accelerant had been used to start the fire, the house went up within 15 minutes and could not be saved. Damages were estimated at $750,000. On Jan. 16, 2024, a fire was set at another show home belonging to the third developer at in Beaumont. The house was also a complete loss, causing $750,000 in damages. After the second fire, the owner of the third development company received a call from a Dubai number and spoke to a man who identified himself as Dhaliwal who demanded that the builder pay him $1 million. According to the court documents, Dhaliwal said if the money was not paid within four days, there would be more destruction, and the builder’s home would be targeted by a drive-by shooter. The builder asked until Christmas to arrange for $100,000. On Dec. 23, he and his family fled the country and did not return until the following spring. After their return they bought an armoured vehicle and hired round-the-clock personal security for several months. According to the court documents, the Group went on to commit offences against two other developers, but as Asht has not admitted to being a party to those offences, the details are not listed in the agreed statement of facts. Asht was arrested alongside Manav Heer, Gurkaran Singh, Parminder Singh, Jashandeep Kaur, and a young offender on July 25, 2024. He was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for his role in the extortions. Because has been in custody since his arrest, he will serve just over three years.
