‘Prime conspirator’ arrested for shootings at Kap’s Café in B.C., Indian police say

Police and politicians are facing growing pressure to do something about the surge of extortion violence that has terrified the South Asian community.

Police in Delhi say they’ve arrested the “prime conspirator” behind a series of extortion-linked shootings at a B.C. café, who they say fled to India after being charged with multiple offences in Ontario.

As politicians in British Columbia gathered to discuss the ongoing problem of extortion on Friday, Delhi Police Department’s crime branch said 28-year-old Bandhu Maan Singh Sekhon had been captured after fleeing Canada when a crackdown by Surrey Police saw several of his associates arrested.

Peel Regional Police in Ontario had announced last December that a man with a nearly identical name, Bandhumaan Sekhon from British Columbia, had been released on bail after being charged with firearms and other offences that closely match those described in the Delhi Police statement.

The statement calls Monday night’s arrest “a massive blow to organized crime syndicates” and adds that Sekhon is also “wanted in a high-profile international arms trafficking case.”

It says Sekhon arrived in Canada in September 2023 on a work visa, and that he had confessed to his alleged role in three shootings this year at the café owned by Indian comedian Kapil Sharma. The café was repeatedly sprayed with bullets, although no one was hurt.

“After apprehension, during sustained interrogation, he not only disclosed about receiving an illegal weapon which was subsequently recovered from his car (semi-automatic pistol, PX-3, made in China) but also his active role in a series of firing at Kap’s Café in Surrey, Canada,” the statement signed by Delhi’s deputy police commissioner Sanjeev Kumar Yadav says.

Federal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree told Friday’s meeting in Surrey that he was aware of the arrest of an individual “allegedly involved with an act in British Columbia.”

The Delhi police statement alleges Sekhon was the strategist responsible for planning, executing and providing logistical support for the attacks, while two other men acted as the shooters.

Kap’s Café was shot at on July 10, Aug. 7 and on Oct. 16, with video filmed from the point of view of the shooters in vehicles widely shared on social media.

Delhi Police say Sekhon is a member of the Goldy Dhillon gang that claimed responsibility for the shootings, posting on social media that the shooting was “a warning.”

In a Peel news release dated Dec. 11, 2024, police said they made multiple arrests “in connection to recent extortion-related incidents occurring in Brampton and Mississauga, targeting the South Asian business community.”

They said Sekhon was charged with offences including conspiracy, firearms possession, and possession of property obtained by crime before being “released with court-imposed conditions.”

B.C. RCMP Assistant Commissioner John Brewer told the event in Surrey on Friday that the Mounties were aware of Sekhon’s arrest and were working to see if there are links to any known instances of crime in the Lower Mainland.

These include 90 investigations that are underway connected to the extortion file, and Premier David Eby said a task force appointed to counter the crimes is the largest in provincial history, and the first that involves the Canada Border Services Agency.

The CBSA said after the meeting that it had initiated immigration investigations into 96 foreign nationals who may be inadmissible, and five individuals “related to these investigations” have been removed from Canada.

“The CBSA has a legal obligation to remove as quickly as possible all foreign nationals found to be inadmissible to Canada under the IRPA,” it said, referring to the immigration act.

The federal and provincial governments announced $1 million in funding for police to support extortion victims.

Eby said the funding would allow for police communication with victims and help those people make a safety plan, if needed.

He said the meeting was “an excellent opportunity” for leaders to update each other on their work to ensure they are “aligned, sharing information and working as a unified team.”

“One of the key pieces of feedback we’ve had from families and individuals who are affected (is) they want more information. They need additional support. They feel scared,” he said.

Anandasangaree said the federal government was spending $4 million over four years for a task force that Eby said will “chase down those gangsters that are involved in drug activity south of the Fraser because there is a close connection between the gangs involved in extortion and the gangs involved in criminal drug dealing in these communities.”

Eby told the gathering that the extortion threats are terrifying to families and tear the fabric of the community when people don’t have the basic expectation of safety in their homes, at work and on the streets.

He said he knows there’s a huge level of anxiety in the community, but progress is being made and there is an “unprecedented amount of work underway.”

The extortions, mostly aimed at business people in the South Asian community, have resulted in dozens of reported shootings in Surrey and Abbotsford, and some have been linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi crime group based in India.

RCMP also issued a statement Friday saying the B.C. Extortion Task Force had executed a search warrant at a home earlier that day.

The Mounties say multiple people inside the home were arrested, while officers also seized items, though they did not provide further details.

“Over the course of the task force’s investigations, several arrests have been made, however they are not all spoken about publicly,” the statement says.

“The reason we are not publicly speaking about each arrest or search warrant is to protect the integrity and viability of the ongoing investigations.”

This report by Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press, was first published Nov. 28, 2025.

With files by Ashley Joannou in Vancouver