Ny Police Nabs Indian For Contract Killings

Millionaire petrol pump owner Gurmeet Singh Dhinsa is under arrest here for allegedly unleashing multiple murders to protect a gas overpricing scheme.

New York police says Dhinsa, a 35-year-old who migrated from Punjab 12 years ago, is responsible for ordering contract murders, rigging gas pumps and evading taxes.

Last month, Indian cab-driver Satinder Singh was shot dead seconds after he honked at a van at a traffic light. A passenger from the van calmly got down and shot Singh.

Police now say that far from being a traffic dispute, Singh was an informer who was mowed down on orders from Dhinsa.

 

Dhinsa allegedly began building his empire by rigging pumps so that customers were paying premium prices for cheaper gas. The method proved highly profitable, allowing the once poor Punjabi villager to own 51 gasoline pumps in New York, and paying for a sprawling two-storey house in the city borough of Brooklyn. As his City Gas empire grew, however, police say Dhinsa became increasingly adept at simply killing off those who baulked at the fraud.

Six years ago, Dhinsas brother Gurdip Singh was indicted for shooting and killing a man over a dispute at a station.

Gurdip Singh fled to India to evade arrest. In mid-May, New York police, acting on a tip that the suspected murderer had returned to the city, finally detained Gurdip Singh for the killing.

Last month, federal agents created a Dhinsa task-force after New York police officers traced Dhinsa to several murders of Indians at gas stations in the city.

Dhinsa already had a crime record: besides being repeatedly cited for defrauding customers, police had earlier hauled him in for assaults, robbery, and illegally possessing weapons.

This time the net was cast wider. Informers, scared by Satinder Singhs murder, were more willing to talk to the police about the extent of Dhinsas reign of terror among the immigrant Indian gas pump and tax-cab community.As investigators continue to piece together more information, Dhinsa is maintaining his innocence. Next week, the alleged crime lord will ask for bail.