2 Sikh men jailed for role in London brawl that killed 3 Punjabis

Naomi Canton

London: Two Sikh builders involved in an armed brawl that led to the death of three of their colleagues, who were illegal Sikh immigrants in Britain, were on Wednesday sentenced to jail here.

Narinder Lubya, 29, from Hoshiarpur, Malkit Singh Dhillon (known as Barjinder Singh), 37, from Sultanpur Lodhi and Harinder Sharma, 30, known as Honey, from Patiala, all working as builders in London, died in a brawl they themselves had initiated in Seven Kings, East London, on January 19.

In a plot twist, Tim Hunter, prosecuting, told the Snaresbrook Crown Court that the three dead men, together with their colleagues Harpreet and Sandeep Singh, from Romford, had plotted to attack another Sikh man, Gurjeet Singh, 29, from Ilford, with hammers and knives in revenge for a row that had taken place at the celebration of the birth of a Sikh baby the night before, at which there had been a brawl between Narinder and Gurjeet.

Gurjeet survived the group attack, but three of the attackers, Narinder, Barjinder and Harinder, were killed by Gurjeet acting in self-defence, the court heard. Gurjeet was left with a number of lacerations and crush injuries on his head and a wound on his hand.

On Wednesday, at the sentencing of Harpreet and Sandeep, CCTV was shown to the court which showed Gurjeet leaving the temple at 7.30pm and being set upon by the three deceased men and Sandeep in a dark alleyway. Gurjeet tries to flee Narinder, Barjinder and Sandeep but then is met by Harinder. He produces a knife to defend himself and eventually flees the scene as three of his attackers collapse to the ground dead. Sandeep is the only individual who survived.

Sandeep, 29, an unskilled labourer from Romford, is an overstayer, whose parents live in Punjab. He was sentenced to four years in prison. He will be deported to India once he has served his sentence. His brother Harpreet, 27, was sentenced to 12 months in jail.

Sandeep arrived in the UK in 2014 with his brother Harpreet, on a temporary visa, which has now expired. Both defendants did not speak English and required Punjabi interpreters and their family members were present in the public gallery.