Sikh Musician Shot Dead Outside US Gurdwara, British Sikh MP Flags Transnational Repression

In a suspected hate crime, a 29-year-old musician with a Sikh kirtan (devotional singing) group was shot dead by unidentified assailants in front of a Gurdwara in Alabama on 2 Mar night. Raj Singh aka Goldy was in the US for the past one and a half years and hailed from Tanda Sahuwala village in Bijnor district in UP. Singh, the sole provider for his family after his father's death, leaves behind his mother, two sisters, and a younger brother. His family has written to the government, requesting his body be brought back to India for cremation. In the UK, Member of Parliament Preet Gill raised concerns about transnational repression against British Sikhs by individuals connected to India. Gill orally questioned Tom Tugendhat in the Parliament, ‘Given reports of British Sikhs facing similar threats, what steps is the government taking to secure their safety and will the minister show the same strength as our partners to publicly defend their democratic rights?’ Tugendhat responded, ‘The government is continually assessing potential threats to individual rights, freedoms and safety in the UK and uses its intelligence services to mitigate any threats to individuals.’ Gill, however, did not mention the Sikh activist Avtar Singh Khanda who died in June 2023 in Birmingham. Officially Khanda died from leukemia but Sikhs allege he was poisoned at the behest of India. Recently, Michael Polak, the lawyer Khanda’s family has engaged, wrote to UK Home Secretary James Cleverly demanding a full investigation into Khanda’s sudden death. Polak believes Khanda’s death has echoes of the poisoning of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 5, Story 2).