Court hears tale of guns, drugs, kidnapping
Prosecutor outlines
case against accused Jethinder Singh (Roman) Narwal Kim Bolan
Vancouve, November 22, 2005
The Vancouver Sun
Accused kidnapper Jethinder Singh (Roman) Narwal held guns to
the heads of his victims and threatened to kill them or members
of their families if they did not deliver money, drugs or property,
B.C. Supreme Court was told Monday.
Crown prosecutor Joe Bellows opened Narwal's trial in dramatic
fashion, describing a dangerous criminal underworld in which friends
kidnap friends over drug debts and rivalries. Justice Sunni Stromberg-Stein
heard Bellows detail three kidnappings earlier this year in which
separate victims were severely beaten, threatened with painful
deaths and told they might end up on the long list of slain Indo-Canadian
gangsters.
Narwal faces 15 charges in connection with three separate kidnappings
in January, April and May of this year. Others are charged in
each of the kidnappings, but the Crown decided to proceed by direct
indictment against Narwal.
Bellows said the first kidnapping victim was a man named Harpreet
or "Happy" Singh, who was held in a Burnaby apartment
before escaping from a vehicle and jumping through the window
of a fast food restaurant.
"Your ladyship will hear of other acts of violence, threatened
and actual, in this apartment, including the accused putting a
handgun to his head," Bellows said.
An Abbotsford man named Khark Grewal was the April kidnap victim,
Bellows said.
He said Grewal had been hired by the gang to take four hockey
bags of marijuana across the border for a fee, but Grewal was
seen by U.S. border agents and left the pot and ran back across
into Canada.
After Grewal explained to gang member Bobby Atwal what happened,
he was kidnapped by a group of men that included Narwal and held
for ransom, Bellows said.
Grewal's father Surjit Singh was approached by Atwal and others,
who requested $500,000, Bellows said.
"Bobby Atwal said to him, 'You know that 80 or 90 boys have
been killed in our community. I am best friends with your son,
but to save him you have to pay this amount,' " Bellows said,
previewing the father's anticipated evidence at the trial.
Another kidnapper identified only as Roy told the victim's father,
"If you don't pay you can't be alive."
Bellows said Grewal's father was told to take the money to a
local Sikh temple and that the ransom would go up by $100,000
a day if it wasn't paid.
Grewal was told to strip naked and photographs were taken of
him on a cell phone camera, Bellows said.
"As this photographing was taking place, he was told that
they wanted to show his father the pictures the next day and told
him either the father would sign over the farm and pay them or
he would be dead," Bellows said. "His captors joked
about how he looked and threatened that they were going to burn
his house down and kill his family."
As Grewal was being driven in a van to a new location, he smashed
against a door and managed to escape as the kidnappers tried to
grab him. Grewal was able to help police find the barn where he
was held and his DNA was discovered in blood left at the scene,
Bellows said.
The third kidnapping took place just six days later, Bellows
said and involved a man named Harjit Singh Toor.
Bellows said Toor was grabbed after work because his brother had
been involved in a botched drug run and the gangsters, including
Narwal, wanted to find their pot.
Toor was even asked by some of the accused if he would be willing
to take a lie detector test.
Bellows said a retired Vancouver police officer did administer
one polygraph to another person involved, but refused to do a
second one once he realized what was going on.
Toor was also taken to a barn, beaten and had a gun held to his
head, Bellows said.
"The gunman told him that they had two people here in the
same place two weeks ago and "we did them," Bellows
said.
Toor was taken to a house. Meanwhile, his family was cooperating
with police and delivered $150,000 in ransom money.
Toor was released and several suspects were arrested, including
Narwal, Bellows said.
Narwal, 30, has pleaded not guilty to all counts. His lawyer,
Matthew Nathanson, declined to make an opening statement
