Vancouver Desi — 18 August 2026
A banned Punjabi film starring Diljit Dosanjh draws diaspora audiences to Surrey screenings, while British Columbia breaks legal new ground by citing U.S. racketeering statutes to seize $11 million in real estate from a gangster linked to India-based transnational crime — the two stories dominating the Desi community conversation across the Lower Mainland this week.
Banned in India, Desi Film Satluj Finds Audiences at Surrey Community Screenings
The film Satluj, starring Punjabi singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh as Sikh human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, is drawing strong community interest across British Columbia despite — and largely because of — being banned in India. India's film censorship board blocked the movie for approximately two to three years, and when the film was finally released on a streaming platform, it was pulled within 48 hours on government orders citing security concerns. The suppression has had the opposite of its intended effect among the diaspora: community screenings are taking place across Canada, with multiple events planned in Surrey and other BC cities. Jaswant Singh Khalra was a Punjabi activist who methodically documented extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of Sikhs during Punjab's separatist insurgency of the 1980s and 90s, raising his findings internationally before he himself was abducted and killed in 1995. For diaspora Sikhs, Khalra represents an unresolved chapter of history that authorities in India have long sought to contain. Gurpreet Singh, a Delta-based journalist and author, said the film's removal from Indian platforms has made the story impossible to ignore. Community members are treating the screenings as acts of cultural solidarity and remembrance, and organisers report strong demand for seats at events throughout the Lower Mainland. [2]
B.C. Cites U.S. RICO Law in Landmark $11M Asset Seizure Targeting India-Linked Narco
British Columbia's civil forfeiture director has filed a landmark legal claim seeking to seize more than $11 million in Vancouver-area real estate from Garinder Singh Deo, a Lower Mainland gangster charged in the United States with facilitating the India-based Bhagwanpuria criminal gang. In a rare legal manoeuvre, the BC claim explicitly cites U.S. federal statutes — including the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and the Hobbs Act — as the unlawful conduct underpinning the proposed Canadian asset seizure. The move reflects a broader pattern in which American prosecutors have led the most significant transnational organised crime investigations touching Canada's South Asian criminal networks, while Canadian courts lack an equivalent to RICO. Deo is alleged to have purchased bulk quantities of cocaine and heroin destined for the U.S. east coast on behalf of the India-based gang. He was arrested in France on July 7 — the day after U.S. authorities unsealed their indictment in Los Angeles — and is awaiting extradition. The claim also invokes terrorism-financing provisions under Canada's Criminal Code; Canada designated the Bishnoi enterprise, the lead syndicate charged in U.S. Operation Hard Ball, as a terrorist entity in September 2025. Records show that before the indictment was unsealed, Deo transferred Surrey property assets to family members for one dollar and natural love and affection. [3]
Sources: [2] CBC · [3] The Bureau | Sam Cooper