Project Gaslight ‘middle manager’ sentenced for extortions targeting fellow South Asians
A man considered the “middle manager” between the bosses calling the shots and the boots on the ground carrying out explosive arsons and drive-by shootings is going behind bars
Gurkaran Singh, who had no prior criminal record, pleaded guilty to his role in the Project Gaslight extortion series targeting fellow South Asians in the Edmonton area.
On Friday in an Edmonton courtroom, he cried while hugging his mom and dad and told them he was sorry before he was taken away to serve his sentence.
Singh pleaded guilty to his role in the arsons and extortions that occurred when he was just 18.
From shootings to new or under-construction homes being torched, police investigated dozens of crimes in the Edmonton region between October 2023 and January of this year that investigators said were extortions by members of the South Asian community against their own people — in particular, home builders and affluent community members.
The extortion scheme saw successful South Asian business people threatened for money in exchange for “protection” and officials said failure to pay out led to arsons — primarily at under-construction homes — and drive-by shootings.
The result? Tens of millions of dollars in damage and widespread fear in the community. In total, police investigated 40 crimes related to the extortion series.
Singh was considered a middle manager. He took instructions and assigned arson work, and finding victims to target and homes to set on fire, while working for a man that used to be in Edmonton but relocated to Dubai a few months before the extortions began.
That man, Maninder Singh Dhaliwal, is believed to be the ringleader of the criminal syndicate responsible for the series of Project Gaslight extortions. Police internally referred to the Edmonton gang as the Dhaliwal crime group.
A Canada-wide warrant is out for alleged crime boss Dhaliwal, who was arrested in the United Arab Emirates on separate criminal charges near the end of 2024.
He is still incarcerated in the Middle Eastern nation as Canada works to negotiate an extradition — a process complicated by the lack of a treaty to do so between Canada and the UAE.
He’s believed to be affiliated with the Brothers Keeper organized crime group out of the Lower Mainland.
According to court documents, some of the other syndicate members were part of a larger Indo-Canadian criminal organization.
Over the courts of several months starting in the fall of 2023, South Asian homebuilders considered to be successful in their own community would receive texts — primarily from unknown numbers on WhatsApp — or phone calls demanding money: vast sums ranging from $500,000 to over a million.
If they ignored the demands or didn’t pay they would be threatened with violence or arson, and in some cases, the criminals carried through: shooting up the personal homes of the victims or setting their under-construction properties aflame, often with the use of gasoline.
One of the target families feared for their lives and fled the country. When they returned several months later, that family got armoured cars and hired ’round-the-clock private security. Other victims bought protective gear like bulletproof vests.
In one case, victims who had been cooperating with investigators stopped temporarily, fearing police could not keep them safe.
Singh had a direct hand in causing nearly $10 million worth of damage, the agreed statement of facts read. He was arrested, along with five other people, on July 25, 2024.
Police seized several devices, many of which contained Signal chats where the syndicate would communicate their plans to commit arson against the owners of Victory Homes, Gill Built Homes and Active Homes.
The phone seizures also revealed Singh was under pressure, allegedly receiving messages from Dhaliwal to find more targets and commit more crimes.
Hundreds of hours of intercepted phone calls were captured over the course of the investigation, including from phone conversations coming out of the Edmonton Remand Centre.
In court, the Crown and defence entered joint submissions. The Crown said the Singh’s motivation was greed and stature.
Singh told the courts he was sorry for the people he hurt and for hurting his family.
“I don’t want to be this person anymore. I want to be a better person,” he said.
The judge said the seriousness of the offences could not be understated, saying Singh terrorized several builders and their families while also putting so many people at risk. At one of the arsons in north Edmonton, a firefighter searching a home for possible children inside fell through a floor when it collapsed and was injured.
At the same time, the judge took into account Singh’s age at the time of the crimes and his early guilty plea.
Singh was sentenced to seven years for arson, seven years for extortion and two year for money laundering, to be served concurrently. He will get credit for time served and has just under five years left in his sentence.
Singh is the second person to be found guilty in the Project Gaslight arrests. In August, Manav Heer pleaded guilty to extortion, arson, conspiring to commit extortion and arson, and using an imitation firearm.
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