Barrage of gunfire targeted a Sikh leader near Sacramento. Was it an assassination attempt?
A prominent Sacramento-area Sikh leader’s pickup truck was fired upon on a highway near Winters in what his organization and an international expert believe was an assassination attempt.
Satinder Pal Singh Raju, a Woodland resident and a leader in the Khalistan movement to establish a homeland for Sikhs, as well as two other Sikh activists were unharmed in the shooting, which happened about 11:30 p.m. on Aug. 11 along Interstate 505.
Officer Rodney Fitzhugh, a spokesperson for the California Highway Patrol’s Woodland office, said gunfire was reported on I-505 near County Road 27 in rural Yolo County, about 11 miles southwest of Woodland. According to a CHP log of the incident, Raju’s Dodge Ram 1500 was impounded as part of the investigation.
After the publication of this story Wednesday, the FBI said it was aware of the incident. In a statement, the FBI said its Sacramento field office “continues to collaborate” with the CHP on the investigation. FBI officials did not say whether they believe the shooting was part of a growing domestic and international threat it has been tracking. The threats involve foreign governments and are known as “transnational repression,” in which overseas states target perceived enemies living abroad.
But an intelligence expert and the group Sikhs for Justice believe that the shooting was unlikely to have been random They allege that India, which has been behind several plots against Sikh leaders in the U.S. and elsewhere, could be behind the troubling Northern California attack.
Fears behind the shooting
“This looks like a targeted attempted killing,” said Dan Stanton, a former Canadian intelligence official and an expert in transnational repression.
Raju was a close associate of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was assassinated in Canada last year.
American and Canadian counterintelligence said the slaying was backed by the Hindu nationalist government of India led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Raju was also a key leader in Khalistan referendum votes, a largely symbolic worldwide effort among some expatriated Sikhs to promote independence from India. The votes were held in San Francisco and Sacramento earlier this year.
Raju also traveled to Canada and assisted with the Sikh referendum held in Calgary in July.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the U.S. leader of Sikhs for Justice who was targeted in an assassination plot orchestrated by Indian intelligence according to a U.S indictment last year, called Raju an important player in the Khalistan movement. Pannun said he was speaking out because no statement expressing concern had been made about the possibility of transnational repression in the 10 days since the shooting.
In April, Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains, D-Delano, introduced legislation to require the state to develop training so law enforcement could better recognize and respond to incidents of transnational repression, but after passing several committees, the bill died in the Senate Appropriations Committee this month. A $600,000 annual price tag the committee ascribed to the legislation, may have stymied it.
“The American administration and the Canadian government, they have not held India accountable, and Modi feels emboldened,” Pannun said. “They are using their proxies to target leaders of the Khalistan referendum movement.”
“It’s a miracle that we survived this direct attack,” Raju said of the shooting. “I thank the gurus that I’m still alive.”
‘Everything was chill.’ Then shots rang out
Raju said after a Sikh organizing meeting at his Woodland home that he and two colleagues drove to Vacaville for a late meal at BJ’s Restaurant before it closed at midnight.
“Everything was chill,” Raju said.
On a dark, rural part of Interstate 505, a small white car — Raju told the CHP he thought it was a Honda Civic — suddenly sped up next to them. A man in the passenger seat took aim and fired multiple shots, piercing the truck’s cab.
Raju ducked after the first shot punctured a window. More bullets whizzed by, he said. Dust from vaporized glass filled the air. In shock, and unsure if any of the three passengers had been struck, the pickup truck driver swerved into a ditch near a farm.
“That probably saved their lives going into that ditch,” Pannun said. “They thought they had killed him.”
Raju said he and his colleagues ran to hide behind a nearby haystack and, after some failed attempts, managed to call 911. As they hid, Raju said he was terrified that the shooters would return and his three school-aged children would be without a father. After about 10 minutes, CHP officers arrived.
Photos from Sikhs for Justice show at least four bullet holes entering the driver’s side window, marked with what looked like a police evidence tags. One bullet appeared to have lodged in the truck’s dashboard, another appeared to have exited through the windshield.
The CHP declined to provide more information, saying its investigation was ongoing.
Stanton said he couldn’t be certain that the shooting was connected to simmering tensions between the government of India, led by Modi, and Khalistan activists. He said that it was a strong possibility, given Raju’s ties to the slain Nijjar and his connections to the Khalistan movement.
“I’m certain that the FBI transnational repression task force and its criminal division are carrying out an investigation as we speak,” Stanton said.
This story was originally published August 21, 2024 at 11:13 AM.
