Two Gurdwaras, a Hate Crime, and a Case Before the Courts
From a $15 million loan secured against two of the GTA's most prominent Sikh institutions to charges over the defacing of Brampton's Tamil Genocide Memorial, this week's Desi news from Brampton touches on community institutions and collective memory.
$15M Loan Against Two GTA Gurdwaras: Raj Grewal Sued by Private Lenders
Mississauga-based lawyer and former Brampton MP Raj Grewal has been sued by two Hamilton-based private lenders after $15 million in loans — secured against two well-known GTA Sikh temples — went into default. The lawsuit, filed September 4 by SSMT Management Inc. and Oculus Mortgage GP Inc., names Grewal, two gurdwaras and their senior leadership as defendants.
The two institutions at the centre of the case are the Sikh Spiritual Centre Toronto (the Etobicoke Gurdwara) and Brampton's Nanaksar Gurdwara. Amarjit Singh Deol, listed as president of both institutions, and Gurmail Singh Nirman, treasurer and director of the Sikh Spiritual Centre Toronto, are also named. According to court documents covering roughly two dozen lawsuits now facing Grewal and RSG Law, the firm he founded, Grewal and associated companies were already more than $200 million in debt when the gurdwara properties were pledged as collateral in spring 2025.
The loan carried an interest-only rate of 24 percent, translating to $300,000 per month. Interest payments were missed from May onward, and by the time the September lawsuit was filed, more than $1.5 million in unpaid interest had accumulated. What was done with the roughly $12.5 million received from the two lenders remains unclear from court documents. The Pointer reported that RSG Law may have covered the last payment received in April. In a separate but related case involving approximately $6 million in counterfeit cheques deposited at RSG Law, a $250,000 wire payment was made from the firm's trust account to the Sikh Spiritual Centre Toronto on April 14 — though any direct connection to the mortgage loan has not been established.
Grewal's lawyer Simon Bieber told The Pointer on September 15 that he understood the matter had been resolved — the same claim made previously about another active Grewal lawsuit that was later found still to be proceeding. For Brampton's Sikh community, the use of cherished community institutions as loan collateral in a web of private lending and real estate transactions raises serious questions about gurdwara governance, the accountability of those who manage community assets, and what comes next for institutions that now find themselves named before the courts. [2]
Brampton's Nanaksar Gurdwara Implicated: What It Means for Local Worshippers
INsauga's coverage of the case frames it directly around the Brampton institution: the Nanaksar Gurdwara, one of the city's largest and most prominent Sikh places of worship. For Brampton's Punjabi-speaking community — one of the most concentrated Punjabi diaspora communities in the world — the Nanaksar is more than a place of prayer. It hosts langar, the community kitchen that feeds anyone who comes; it is a gathering place for families newly arrived from Punjab; it anchors neighbourhood life across a large stretch of Brampton's northeast and central districts.
The news that the Nanaksar is named as a defendant in a $15 million lending dispute — connected to a former Member of Parliament many in the community voted for — is not easily absorbed as an abstract legal matter. Gurdwara governance is a real and recurring concern in the Sikh diaspora. The accountability of executive committees that oversee large community institutions, the management of significant real estate holdings, and the duty to keep the sangat informed have all been subjects of community debate. The Nanaksar case will intensify those conversations in Brampton.
What congregants will want to know is direct: were they told? Did the gurdwara management committee inform the sangat that the institution's property had been pledged as collateral for a private individual's $15 million loan? Was there a vote? The people who worship there, donate, volunteer, and consider the building sacred deserve answers to those questions. INsauga's report brings the matter into public view. The courts will answer some of what happened; the community will need to answer the rest. [1]
Teen Charged After Tamil Genocide Memorial Defaced with Derogatory Messages
A 14-year-old from Brampton was arrested and charged in a hate crimes investigation after the Tamil Genocide Memorial at Chinguacousy Park was spray-painted with derogatory messages. Peel Regional Police received reports of the vandalism on March 20 and made the arrest on March 31. The boy has been charged with two counts of mischief over $5,000 and is scheduled to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice; his identity is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
The memorial, unveiled in May 2025 after years of advocacy, stands in Chinguacousy Park as a public tribute to the victims of the Tamil genocide in Sri Lanka. It is a significant monument for one of the largest Tamil diaspora communities in the world: the Greater Toronto Area is home to tens of thousands of Tamil families, many of whom came to Canada as refugees or in the years following the Sri Lankan civil war and the atrocities of 2009. For that community, the memorial is not ornamental — it is an act of witness, fought for over many years, dedicated to the dead. Defacing it with hateful messaging was an act of targeted hostility against that collective memory.
The charges under hate crime provisions acknowledge the nature of the act. Peel Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah addressed the incident personally in the police release: 'Peel Regional Police will not tolerate vandalism — especially hate-motivated crimes of spaces that are meaningful to our communities. People across the region have the right to feel safe in public spaces.' Duraiappah, of Sri Lankan Tamil heritage, brings particular weight to that statement. The arrest and charges signal that Peel police treated this with the seriousness the community said it deserved. [5]
Sources: [2] The Pointer · [1] INsauga · [5] CBC