Accused B.C. extortionist was allegedly in Canada on expired student visa

A man charged in two high-profile B.C. extortion incidents was living in Canada on an expired student visa at the time of his alleged crimes, according to court records.

CBC News has learned that Vikram Sharma was flagged by authorities weeks before attacks in Surrey and on Vancouver Island in 2024 because he allegedly relied on fraudulent documents in his bid to extend the visa that first allowed him into Canada in June 2022.

The 24-year-old — whose student visa expired in April 2024 — is currently believed to be in India.

Prosecutors said Sharma fled Canada via Lester Pearson Airport in Toronto on Oct. 9, 2024.

That was more than a month after he and co-accused Abjeet Kingra allegedly torched Punjabi musician AP Dhillon's vehicles and fired into his home at the behest of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

"At the time of the offence, Mr. Sharma was a foreign national in Canada with no status," Crown prosecutor Jess Patterson told the judge overseeing the case.

"Prior to the offence, Mr. Sharma had provided some fraudulent documents to Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada trying to re-establish his student visa, but because they were determined to be fraudulent, he was required to have an in-person attendance meeting."

The details of Sharma's immigration status were revealed at a bail hearing that had been subject to a publication ban — prior to the recent sentencing of Sharma's co-accused in the attack on Dhillon's Victoria-area home, which occurred in September 2024.

Kingra — who also came to Canada on a student visa — is serving six years in jail after pleading guilty to the attack on Dhillon's home this fall.

Both he and Sharma were charged in October in connection with a separate arson and shooting that occurred prior to the Vancouver Island case, at the home of a Surrey resident who had been subject to extortion threats.

Kingra is slated to appear from jail in Surrey court on Thursday for a bail hearing related to the new charge.

CBC News has listened to Kingra's earlier court proceedings, and obtained exhibits from his sentencing, which provide a window into the aftermath of the crime and the lives of the two men who were allegedly carrying out orders on behalf of an Indian transnational gang.

The details are significant — because only a handful of people have been charged to date in relation to a wave of Lower Mainland extortion threats that prompted the formation of a task force including municipal police, RCMP and other authorities like the Canada Border Services Agency.

By the end of November, the CBSA says it's initiated investigations into 96 foreign nationals and removed five individuals related to the investigations.