More details have emerged from the daytime shooting in Surrey, British Columbia last month. The CBC’s “Fifth Class” investigative program confirmed that the victim was a key figure in the notorious Lawrence Bishnoi gang in Canada and had connections to cricket match-fixing.
The incident occurred at approximately 3 p.m. on May 4th, when a man was shot and killed inside an office building in Surrey. While the RCMP Integrated Homicide Investigation Team confirmed it was a targeted attack, they have not released the victim’s identity or motive, sparking much speculation in the community. The Fifth Estate has now identified the deceased as Gurvikramjeet Singh Warring, also known as “Satwell Singh Warring,” “Sam Canada,” or simply “Sam.”
Sources familiar with the matter revealed that the gunman calmly entered the building, carried out the attack, and quickly left. Waring was renting an office inside the Vancouver School of Management when he was shot and killed instantly. After his death, two memorial photos with different names circulated in the community.
According to multiple sources, the 35-year-old Surrey resident had close ties to the Bishnoi gang, which is designated a terrorist entity in Canada, and was a “key intermediary” for its leader, Lawrence Bishnoi. Bishnoi is currently being held in a federal prison in Gujarat, India. The day after the attack, a social media account claiming responsibility for the attack came from a rival gang leader, Rohit Godara.
Indian independent journalist Ritsh Raki points out that Godara was originally part of the Bishnoi gang but later broke away from it with Goddi Bharar, and the two sides are currently embroiled in a bloody feud. Ginny Sims, a former MLA for British Columbia and now a radio host, works in the same building. She described the case to The Fifth Rank as “feeling completely different,” noting that the gunman’s audacity in breaking and entering suggested a meticulously planned targeted killing.
Sims also revealed that some community members had reported information about “Sam” to Surrey police and were therefore puzzled by the police’s claim that the deceased was previously unknown to them. In its response, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) stated that information related to criminal investigations is typically not released to the public before formal charges are filed, regardless of whether the person involved is deceased. This case has exposed deeper issues.
In April of this year, The Fifth Rank investigated allegations of corruption and match-fixing within Cricket Canada, with sources already indicating that a figure named “Sam” was linked to threats against players and officials. These sources later confirmed that “Sam” was indeed the victim of the shooting, Warin. A social media post, purportedly from Godara, also claimed that Warin was involved in manipulating Canadian cricket matches and warned of action against match-fixers, betting brokers, and imposters. Warin had a close relationship with Arvinder Khosa, the new president of Cricket Canada.
The two appeared together at a cricket match last year, and Warin attended Khosa’s celebrations after being appointed interim president in April. Khosa previously admitted in an interview that he knew Warin, but only on a cricket level, denying any gang affiliation. Khosa’s lawyer recently sent a letter to The Fifth Estate, declining to comment on the connection between Khosa and Warin, accusing the report of “false and reckless statements.”
Sixteen days after Warin’s murder and again in early June, a residence owned by Khosa in Surrey was shot twice. Police stated that residents of the residence had received extortion threats, but did not link the two incidents to Warin’s death. Warin’s background in Canada is shrouded in mystery. He arrived in Canada from India in 2013 as a temporary foreign worker, ostensibly an electrician.
On the surface, he ran an education company, helping students obtain provincial government loans to pay for their tuition. Records show he owned at least two numbered companies, one of which was suspected of being involved in fraudulent farm operations and had been fined $135,000 CAD by the Canadian government for violations. According to multiple Indian media reports, several of Varin’s aliases appeared on a list published by the Indian government in April 2023, which listed more than twenty Punjab gang members hiding overseas. Reports indicate that the Indian government submitted a list of seven individuals to Canada that same year requesting their extradition, but the subsequent progress is unclear. The Federal Ministry of Justice responded that extradition requests fall under the category of secret communications between states.
Sims questioned why, given that the Canadian government might have had information about Warin’s warrant for arrest in India, it had never taken action to track him down. “Where is our system going wrong?” she said.