Three Indo-Canadians charged with violent sexual assaults

Three Indo-Canadians were charged with 17 offences in two separate cases of violent sexual assaults on sex workers two years ago in Canada's Surrey, media reported.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) confirmed that three suspects identified as Simranpreet Dhillon, Sukhraj Chahal and Gurjinder Sodha were involved in two incidents in Surrey city in the Canadian province of British Columbia in 2012, where the suspects drove the victims to secluded areas and sexually and physically assaulted them, Voice Online reported Friday.

In both the cases, the victims were sex workers who were picked up by two males who were unknown to them.

Dhillon has been charged with two counts of sexual assault with a weapon, two counts of possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose, two counts of uttering threats of death or bodily harm, two counts of unlawful confinement, aggravated sexual assault and robbery, Surrey RCMP said.

Chahal and Sodha have both been charged with sexual assault with a weapon, unlawful confinement and robbery.

Dhillon and Chahal were charged with violently sexually and physically assaulting a sex worker whom they picked up from near King George Boulevard area and took to a secluded area in August 2012.

They were also charged with assaulting another sex worker whom they picked up from near King George Boulevard area and took to a secluded area in Oct 2012.

The victim in the second incident suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries and was taken to a local area hospital where she endured a lengthy recovery.

The suspects were identified and arrested and were charged with a total of 17 criminal offences following a lengthy investigation by Surrey RCMP's Child Abuse and Sexual Offence Unit, the report said.