Sunday, June 22, 2025

Brothers Keepers fingered in Edmonton extortion plots

An extortion scheme that targeted Punjabi homebuilders in Edmonton was linked to the Brothers Keepers.

Harpreet Uppal
The Project Gaslight investigation revealed Harpreet Uppal — the man killed alongside his 11-year-old son in a 2023 shooting — was part of the extortion plot. Uppal was a member of Brothers Keepers. He was also a "close associate" of Maninder Dhaliwal, the man accused of orchestrating extortions and arsons. Among those busted was Divnoor Singh Asht, 19. He revealed Maninder Dhaliwal and Harpreet Uppal were the ringleaders. Asht was sentenced to 4½ years in prison. Calls, recorded from the jail, revealed Asht discussing getting money from one of the homebuilders being targeted. Gurkaran Singh, Manav Heer, Parminder Singh and a 17-year-old are still before the courts.
Maninder Dhaliwal
Dhaliwal was arrested in the United Arab Emirates late last year with an extradition request to send him back to Canada pending. Uppal, 41, was killed at a south Edmonton gas station on the afternoon of Nov. 10, 2023 with his son being collateral damage. Nobody has been charged. Before Uppal was killed, he was involved in schemes where Edmonton developers received calls and messages demanding large sums of money. If they didn't pay, their properties went up in flames. In some cases, there was gunfire outside their own homes. Arsons at homes owned by three builders targeted in October and November of 2023 caused $4 million of damage.