Three men are facing charges in connection with two extortion-related shootings at the Calgary home of a former Cricket Canada board member, the fifth estate has learned. One suspect remains at large.
The shootings happened in late February and early March in a northeast Calgary neighbourhood, forcing the board member to temporarily relocate with his family.
“It’s scary, to a point where I was like, ‘is Canada even safe?’,” said the official, whose identity the fifth estate agreed to protect because he fears for his safety and that his family could be targeted again.
“I can tell you that bullet, if that was fired a little bit of a different angle, it could have gone through me, right?”
He resigned from Cricket Canada the morning of the second shooting.
The fifth estate obtained exclusive video of the first shooting. It shows a white sedan driving by the home, then reversing and slowing at the end of the driveway before multiple shots are fired at the house.
The former board member says that in the days before the second shooting, he received at least 100 phone calls and hundreds of disappearing text messages.
He says that during the two calls he answered, the person on the other end demanded $150,000.
“[The caller] told me that it was him who shot at the house and he wanted money and that was it,” the former official said. “And he said more will come, more shootings will come, if you don’t pay.”
Threats linked to Cricket Canada work
He says the shootings are directly related to his work at Cricket Canada, where he handled contracts and litigation matters.
The former official told the fifth estate that he believes the threats are connected to his involvement in a deal between Cricket Canada and an outside business group looking to hold cricket tournaments sanctioned by the sport’s governing body.
He says an excerpt from a recorded phone call, taken out of context, made it appear he had received between $200,000 to $300,000 as a kickback in the deal. He said he was actually discussing possible event management fees related to outside commercial events.
“[The caller] finally said, ‘no, you have money.’ I’m like, ‘How do you know I have money?’ He’s like, ‘You made money from the (event) contract'” the former official said.
He maintains that he never received money from the deal.
In a statement to the fifth estate, Cricket Canada said it “is not involved in any such investigation and is not in a position to comment on those matters.”
It added that it “takes any matters related to safety and integrity extremely seriously and would fully cooperate with any official process if required.”
Akash Harike group claims responsibility
In one of the phone calls the former board member answered, he says the individual claimed to be “Akash Harike” — which he later learned was the name used by a group on Instagram that claimed responsibility for both shootings at his house.
The group’s Instagram profile – Akash Harike 47 Group — features other videos of shootings and guns.
On two occasions, a video was uploaded to the page showing shots being fired outside a house that matches the physical markers of the former official’s house in Calgary.
The first video was posted Feb. 24, two days after the first shooting, and a second was published March 4 — the same day as the second shooting.
The second video includes text in Punjabi that references Cricket Canada.
Roughly translated, it states in part: “This was just a trailer; the rest is yet to come.
Run wherever you want. Next time, the bullet will hit directly in the forehead.”
Cricket Canada is under fire amid allegations of corruption and fixing, even at the World Cup. We investigate claims of mistreatment of players and infiltration and death threats by organized crime.
An inspector with the Calgary Police Service told the fifth estate that police were aware of the posts made by the Akash Harike group.
“While this is an ongoing investigation into the incidents that have been posted on their Instagram account, police are exploring every investigative avenue and resource to end this type of violence,” said Ben Lawson, acting inspector responsible for organized crime investigations.
The new charges were laid following a fifth estate investigation that revealed allegations of interference by organized crime in Cricket Canada’s team selection, corruption and match-fixing by top-level leadership.
Traffic stop leads to arrests and gun charges
The first shooting happened around 2:45 a.m. MT on Feb. 22, when police say two suspects fired multiple shots at the house and driveway before driving off. Video obtained by the fifth estate shows about six shots fired from the vehicle.
Ten days later, around 5:10 a.m., three individuals again fired multiple shots at the same house before fleeing. Bullet holes could be seen in the garage door, and glass was broken.
Later that week, police arrested Jaskaran Singh, 21, during a traffic stop after recognizing the vehicle matched the description of the one involved in the second shooting.
He was charged earlier this month with discharging a firearm with intent while police continued to investigate, including analyzing evidence from both the vehicle and the first extortion-related shooting.
As a result, police arrested and charged a second man, Karanbir Singh, 21, in Edmonton. He appeared in court April 20 on a charge of discharging a firearm with intent.
A third man, Germanjeet Singh, 22, remains at large.
Former board member fears for family’s safety
The former official welcomed news of the arrests, even if one suspect has not been caught.
“It’s kind of a relief, right? Because you never know what’s going to happen until you know that the police are on it,” the former Cricket Canada official said.
While no one was injured in the two shootings, the former official says his family has lived in fear since then.
He says targeting a volunteer in a non-profit organization is “pathetic” and any kind of crime ultimately hurts the sport.
“What if your family, your kids, don’t want to go to cricket? … They think this is a gangster-run organization.”
- Get in touch with the fifth estate at fifthtips@cbc.ca or click here to contact CBC News completely anonymously using SecureDrop.
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