Powerful Sikh sect leader Harnek Singh Grewal, who has thousands of followers worldwide, denies that he made a phone call to India ordering his gun-toting faithful to fire on a rival group opposed to his rule. The riot left one man dead and nine others, including three cops, injured.

By Asian Pacific News Service

A Canada-based Sikh religious leader is denying allegations that he ordered his faithful in India to shoot at rivals who had sought to oust him.

One man was killed in the incident last October 11 when a rival group had gathered outside a temple which is controlled by Harnek Singh Grewal - the controversial leader of a wealthy and powerful Sikh sect with temples in Richmond, Edmonton, and Toronto.

Court documents from India allege that Grewal ordered his followers by phone from Canada to open fire on his rivals.

Grewal, who reportedly controls a C$20 million global financial empire, also has large followings in the U.S., England (Coventry), and in India.

Harnek Singh

The 65-year-old is the spiritual head of the Nanaksar movement, which is known for its strict tenets, including celibacy for its holy men and abstinence from alcohol. He is revered by thousands globally as Maharaj Ji or 'Prince'. In B.C., Grewal is based out of the Nanaksar Gurdwara-Gursikh Temple in Richmond.

The murder allegation is the latest twist in a bitter fight in B.C. and India between those aligned with Grewal and a rival faction that is challenging his succession as the sect's head.

The rival faction also wants Grewal removed for 'undesirable' activities that go against the tenets of their beliefs.

According to Pramod Ban, the senior superintendent of police (SSP) of Khanna region in the Punjab, Grewal is among nine people named as co-accused in the murder of one Jeet Singh at the Nanaksar Dera in Siahar, Punjab.

Ban told The Asian Pacific Post that formal charges have yet to be laid in the case as a number of Harnek Singh's supporters who were allegedly involved in the incident have now absconded and are refusing to come forth to the police.

He added, however, that the police investigation is ongoing.

Court documents in India alleged that Grewal had ordered his followers, over the phone from Canada, to open fire on his rivals who had gathered at Siahar on October 11.

Nine people, including three policemen were injured. Jeet Singh died of his gunshot wounds on Oct 25.

The key accused in the murder case, Avtar Singh, has been arrested.

The Ludhiana Tribune newspaper reported that the others named could be arrested and supplementary charges be presented against them soon.

The paper quoted Pal Singh, a spokesman for Grewal in India as saying police were working under political pressure and in a conspiracy to put all major supporters of his spiritual leader in jail to enable the rival group to take over the Siahar temple and other assets of the movement.

Pramod Ban, the senior superintendent of police (SSP) responsible for the Khanna, Punjab area denied the claims saying his officers were not taking sides and working within the legal framework.

Brad Cramer, Grewal's Vancouver lawyer told The Asian Pacific Post: "I have nothing that I can say at this time to your inquiry."

Meanwhile, court documents obtained by The Asian Pacific Post show that Grewal has made an anticipatory application for bail in the event he gets arrested in connection with the murder case.

Grewal in the court documents described the allegations as 'false and concocted' stating that it is the result of a 'deep rooted conspiracy hatched by his opponents who have political patronage'.

"The only allegation against the accused/applicant is that he telephoned from Canada to his followers in India to fire at the complainant party. The name of the accused/applicant has been introduced in order to grab the Trust property of which the applicant is the chairman of the Trust," the court documents state.

Grewal states in the court documents that he is residing in Edmonton, Alberta and that he plans to come to India very soon.

He also promised to cooperate with police, not leave India after his arrival and not induce or threaten anyone connected with the case.

The application for bail was filed in Ludhiana, Punjab on Feb. 17, 2004.

A judge, one week later disposed off with the application saying Grewal had not produced anything to show that he had obtained a visa or purchased an air ticket to visit India.

"In these circumstances the apprehension of the applicant about his arrest as and when he enters India cannot be held to be legally tenable," he ruled.

The judge, however, allowed Grewal to make a fresh application after he got his air ticket and visa.

It is unclear why the judge did not take into account a visa issued to Grewal by the Indian High Commission in Canada. Documents show Grewal, a Canadian national, was issued a multiple-entry visa for passport number BD121425, which expires on Jan 6, 2009.

Grewal's latest troubles comes after he beat attempts in the B.C. courts to oust him.

Last year dissident members of the Nanaksar Gurdwara-Gursikh Temple society in Richmond launched a petition in the B.C. Supreme Court to oust Grewal and the directors from the governing society of the movement.

They claimed in supporting affidavits that Grewal used temple funds to build a large house for himself and a young woman from India, promoted the belief of free sex as a path to enlightenment, drank alcohol on temple grounds and lost C$45,000 of temple money gambling in Las Vegas.

But Justice Laura Gerow disagreed with every major point advanced by the petitioners saying they were merely challenging the succession of Grewal to the position of high priest of the sect in 1994.

"After reviewing the material, I have concluded that the basis of this action is a religious dispute about whether Maharaj Ji is the appropriate successor," wrote Justice Gerow in her reasons for judgment last May.

"The court has no role in religious matters," she ruled saying the petitioners had advanced no evidence to back up their statements.

The court also said there was no need for an auditor to review the temple finances.

The dissidents, having lost their battle in the B.C. courts, then took their complaints to the Body of Sikh Holy Men in Punjab earlier this year, which formed a panel to probe the allegations of misconduct against Grewal.

Grewal, was excommunicated last month by the Body of Sikh Holy Men in Punjab for allegedly drinking liquor and participating in objectionable activities in Canada.

Grewal, was fined $600 and had his licence suspended for one year for impaired driving in May 2000. An Alberta police officer found him slumped behind the wheel of a car at the West Edmonton Mall.

Following the excommunication decree, a spokesman for the Grewal faction told the Ludhiana Tribune newspaper that the order from the Body of Sikh Holy Men was invalid because Grewal was not a member of the group.

He said Grewal was a saint and had refused to join the Body of the Sikh Holy Men because he felt that saints should not become part of such unions and should only concentrate on religious activities.

The high stakes tussle between the two groups also involves control of some 7,000 acres of land in B.C., Alberta and Ontario, $1.2 million annually in temple donations, an estimated $15 million in temple members equity,

Ironically, the latest development in the controversy involving Grewal, mirrors another murder in India allegedly orchestrated by one of his staunchest supporters in British Columbia.

One of the founders of the Richmond temple on Westminster Highway, where Grewal maintains a base, is Maple Ridge blueberry farmer Surjit Singh Badesha.

He has been accused by Indian police of hiring a gang to kidnap his niece, Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu, and kill the rickshaw driver she secretly married against her family's wishes in 1999.

Sidhu, a Maple Ridge beautician, was beaten and had her throat slit in a June 2000 attack that her husband survived. The order to kill the young woman, was made in a telephone call to the contract killers from Canada, Indian police allege.

Police in Punjab want to extradite Badesha and his sister Malkiat Kaur, who is Jaswinder's mother, to face charges.

Badesha and Kaur deny any connection to the killing.