Brampton Gurdwaras Drawn Into $15M Lawsuit as Sikh Activists Receive Death Warnings and Tamil Memorial Defaced
A financial scandal involving former Brampton MP and lawyer Raj Grewal has deepened with a new lawsuit alleging that $15 million in loans were secured against two prominent GTA Gurdwaras while Grewal was more than $200 million in total debt. The same period brought RCMP warnings to two Sikh activists that credible death threats have been made against their lives, and charges against a Brampton teen who allegedly defaced the Tamil Genocide Memorial in a hate-motivated act of vandalism.
🗳️ Raj Grewal Lawsuit: Two GTA Gurdwaras Used to Secure $15M in Loans Amid Sea of Debt
Mississauga-based lawyer and former Brampton MP Raj Grewal is facing another lawsuit, this one filed September 4, 2026, by two Hamilton-based private lenders. At the centre of the case are two well-known GTA Sikh houses of worship: the Etobicoke Gurdwara, formally known as the Sikh Spiritual Centre Toronto, and Brampton's Nanaksar Gurdwara. Both institutions, along with their shared president Amarjit Singh Deol and treasurer Gurmail Singh Nirman, are named as defendants. The lenders — SSMT Management Inc. and Oculus Mortgage GP Inc. — allege they provided $15 million in loans last year, guaranteed by Grewal, against both Gurdwaras as security.
According to court documents reviewed by The Pointer, the loans carried a punishing 24 per cent interest rate, translating to roughly $300,000 in monthly interest-only payments. Since May 2026, more than $1.5 million in interest has gone unpaid. The lawsuit holds Grewal personally responsible for the full outstanding amount plus accumulated missed payments. The two private lenders are already entangled with Grewal through other real estate and mortgage transactions that form part of a larger web of approximately two dozen lawsuits he and his firm, RSG Law, are now facing.
The $15 million case adds a particularly troubling dimension: it intersects with a separate ongoing investigation into roughly $6 million in counterfeit cheques deposited by an RSG Law lawyer. Court records show that shortly after those fraudulent funds were transferred into RSG's trust account, a $250,000 wire payment was sent to the RBC account of the Sikh Spiritual Centre Toronto on April 14, 2026. The ultimate destination of the full $12.5 million in loan proceeds remains unclear. Grewal's lawyer denied any outstanding matters exist, but critics note that other cases involving Grewal previously described as resolved have remained in active litigation. [1]
RCMP Warns Two Sikh Activists of Credible Threats to Their Lives
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has issued formal duty-to-warn notices to at least two Canadian Sikh activists, informing them of credible, serious, and imminent threats to their lives in connection with their advocacy for an independent Sikh homeland — Khalistan — within India. The two men named in the documents, obtained by The Canadian Press, are Inderjeet Singh Gosal of Caledon, Ontario, and Manjinder Singh of Abbotsford, British Columbia.
RCMP issued the warnings after assessing the threat level as credible, but told both men they were unable to provide specific details about the nature or source of the danger. The notices state that while no threat exists against the activists' families or friends, those people could nonetheless be caught up in any attack directed at the two men. The development comes against a charged backdrop in the GTA, where tensions between South Asian communities over Khalistan have periodically spilled into public space. CP24 referenced a protest held in support of Khalistan outside the Triveni Mandir Hindu temple in Brampton in April 2026, illustrating the ongoing community friction.
The RCMP warnings echo a broader pattern of Canadian security agencies alerting Sikh diaspora figures to threats linked to state or state-adjacent actors in India. Canada has been a flashpoint in that global dynamic since the 2023 killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C. For the Sikh communities of Brampton and Caledon, the latest notices sharpen an already acute sense of precarity, raising urgent questions about the safety of community members engaged in political advocacy and underscoring calls for federal authorities to take a more robust and transparent stance on protecting diaspora activists on Canadian soil. [3]
Teen Charged After Tamil Genocide Memorial in Chinguacousy Park Defaced with Derogatory Messages
Brampton's Tamil community received a measure of justice when Peel Regional Police announced the arrest and charging of a 14-year-old boy in connection with the vandalization of the Tamil Genocide Memorial at Chinguacousy Park. According to Peel police, the memorial — which honours the victims of the Tamil genocide in Sri Lanka — was spray-painted with derogatory messages. Investigators received reports of the attack on March 20, 2026, and arrested the Brampton youth on March 31, charging him with two counts of mischief over $5,000.
Because the accused is a youth, his identity is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act and cannot be released publicly. He is scheduled to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice at a date to be set. The Tamil Genocide Memorial was unveiled at Chinguacousy Park in May 2025 following years of advocacy by Brampton's Tamil community, making the attack particularly painful for those who fought for the monument's existence. Peel Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah condemned the incident without equivocation, stating that the force will not tolerate vandalism — especially hate-motivated crimes targeting spaces meaningful to communities — and affirmed that residents across the region have the right to feel safe in public spaces.
The case has been classified as a hate-crimes investigation by Peel Regional Police. For the Tamil diaspora in Brampton — one of the largest Tamil communities outside Sri Lanka — the defacement of a monument built to memorialize genocide victims struck at a deep collective wound. Community response has centered on calls for sustained education and accountability to prevent further attacks on culturally significant sites, and on acknowledgment that hate-motivated vandalism of this kind carries a weight far beyond property damage. [5]
Sources: [1] The Pointer · [3] CP24 · [5] CBC