Federal indictments issued for 3 men in Central Valley murder-for-hire plot
If convicted defendants could face up to 10-year prison terms
Yesterday a federal grand jury in Sacramento handed down indictments for three men involved in a bizarre murder-for-hire plot.
The indictment were issued for Jagninder Singh Boparai, 46, of Manteca; Ramesh Kumar Birla Jr., 45, of Dublin; and Shaminderjit Singh Sandhu, 49, of Tracy; charging all three with conspiracy to use interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder for hire, and charging Boparai with the use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder for hire.
in February 2023, Boparai met with a confidential informant posing as a hitman at a Manteca, Calif. Starbuck. Boparai told the supposed hitman that the first job involved the assault of Victim 1, and once he proved his trustworthiness, he would be given another job.
To prove his trustworthiness, the informant presented pictures to Boparia purporting showing the victim beaten. in March 2023, Boparai met with the confidential informant to pay the confidential informant $10,000 as a down payment for the murder of Victim 2.
Sandhu provided Victim 2’s address, and Boparai instructed the confidential informant that Victim 2 must disappear without any evidence remaining. Boparai then made two calls to Birla asking for Victim 2’s Facebook profile.
Boparai subsequently received a Facebook profile picture of Victim 2, which he showed to the confidential informant. On March 24, 2023, Sandhu and Birla met with the confidential informant in a parking lot in Manteca.
Sandhu and Birla claimed that Boparai was out of town, but Boparai was observed by surveillance remaining in a car in the same parking lot. Sandhu and Birla instructed the confidential informant to kill Victim 2 and take Victim 2’s remains to Mexico in a suitcase.
All three defendants were arrested on March 31, 2023, and are currently in federal custody. If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
No trial date has been set.
