Ranjit "Ranj" Singh Cheema (1968-2 May 2012) was a

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

-based Sikh-Canadian

gangster A gangster (informally gangsta) is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''Organized crime, mob'' and the suffix ''wikt:-ster, -st ...

, drug trader and longtime under-world rival of notorious gangster and former Cheema disciple,

Bindy Johal Bhupinder "Bindy" Singh Johal (14 January 1971 – 20 December 1998) was an Indo-Canadian gangster from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. A self-confessed drug trafficker, he was known for his outspoken nature, blatant disregard for authorit ...

. He was involved in organized crime for over two-decades in Vancouver and also in cocaine trafficking.

Early life

Ranjit Singh Cheema was born in 1968 to a

Jat Sikh Jat Sikh or Jatt Sikh (Gurmukhi: ਜੱਟ ਸਿੱਖ) is an ethnoreligious group, a subgroup of the Jat people whose traditional religion is Sikhism, originating from the Indian subcontinent. They are one of the dominant communities in Pu ...

family of the Cheema clan in the small village of Cheema Khurd, Jalandhar district,

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. During his childhood, Cheema moved with his family to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and then to

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, arriving at the latter location in October 1978 when he was ten years old. According to Cheema, his father Malkit was abusive and suffered from alcoholism and his family was poor. Cheema worked with his mother in

Fraser Valley The Fraser Valley is a geographical region in southwestern British Columbia, Canada and northwestern Washington State. It starts just west of Hope in a narrow valley encompassing the Fraser River and ends at the Pacific Ocean stretching from th ...

berry farms during summer break from the ages of 10 to 15, following which he worked as a janitor at night while attending high school. After graduating from high school in 1986, Cheema went to college, studying criminal justice while working as a bouncer and then as a truck driver. Cheema claimed that he wanted to become a police officer while in college.

Criminal activities

Cheema pleaded guilty to a nightclub shooting where he intimidated some men over a woman named Monica Alvarez at a Southwest Marine Drive nightclub on November 19, 1993; as it was alleged by her that the men had bumped into her and caused trouble which caused Ranjit to intervene on her behalf, prior to this he had no criminal record. In the May 1995 trial of Bhupinder "Bindy" Singh Johal, who was accused of murdering gangster brothers Jimsher "Jimmy" Singh Dosanjh and Ranjit "Ron" Singh Dosanjh, Cheema was identified as an associate of Johal and a major drug distributor involved in cocaine trafficking. In August 1995, Cheema was shot at the Zodiac Karaoke nightclub in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

. At the time of the shooting, Cheema was with Manjinder "Robbie" Singh Kandola, a founder of the Independent Soldiers gang. The two would later fall out, and Kandola would be killed in 2002, a murder believed to be ordered by Cheema. In 1998, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

charged Cheema of attempting to smuggle heroin and hashish from

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and exchange it with Colombian gangs for cocaine. He would not be extradited for another decade as he filed numerous appeals. At a May 2000 wedding in Vancouver attended by Cheema and by then-

premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Ujjal Dosanjh, Cheema's bodyguard Mike Brar was killed. After investigating Cheema following Brar's murder,

Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, and is the larg ...

reporter

Kim Bolan Kim Rosemary Bolan (born 1959) is a Canadian journalist who has been a reporter at the ''Vancouver Sun'' since her journalism career began in 1984. She has reported on minority, women's, education, and social services issues; wars in El Salvador, ...

found that he had not been arrested on a charge for assault in

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard In ...

. Cheema was then arrested but released after the complainant died. In 2008, Cheema was finally extradited to the United States, where he pleaded guilty. MP Sukhminder "Sukh" Singh Dhaliwal faced controversy after writing to a U.S. District Court judge on official House of Commons stationery in support of Cheema. Cheema was imprisoned in California until being released in 2012, when he returned to Vancouver and attempted to return to drug smuggling.

Personal life and death

Cheema was married and had a daughter born in 2004. He was killed on 2 May 2012, in a targeted drive-by shooting, just three months after being released from prison for the attempted sale of 200 kilograms of heroin. According to crime journalist Kim Bolan and her police sources, "Since returning from a California prison three months ago, longtime Vancouver gangster Ranjit Singh Cheema had been trying to muscle his way back into the lucrative B.C. drug trade before he was gunned down Wednesday. In the process, Cheema disrespected some of his former underlings who have moved up in the business since the 43-year-old went to jail. Some close to Cheema, as well as police sources, believe recent disputes with old associates could have led to the gangland execution of the former south slope crime boss in front of his parents' house on East 61st Avenue. "He was trying to step into his old role," one friend said. "He didn't realize that things have changed."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheema, Ranjit 1968 births 2012 deaths 2012 murders in Canada 21st-century Canadian criminals Canadian male criminals Canadian murderers Canadian drug traffickers Canadian people convicted of drug offences Canadian prisoners and detainees Criminals from British Columbia Deaths by firearm in British Columbia Indian emigrants to Canada Indo-Canadian organized crime Murdered Canadian gangsters Murdered Indian gangsters Organized crime in Vancouver People from Vancouver People murdered by Canadian organized crime People murdered in British Columbia Prisoners and detainees of California People from Jalandhar district Unsolved murders in Canada

Early life

Criminal activities

Personal life and death

See also

References