August 3, 2025 – Shaminderjit Singh Sandhu, 51, of Tracy, pleaded guilty on Thursday to conspiring to use interstate
commerce facilities in the commission of murder for hire, Acting U.S. Attorney Kimberly A. Sanchez announced.
Image by Ray Shrewsberry • Ray_Shrewsberry from Pixabay
According to court documents, Sandhu conspired with Jagninder Singh Boparai, 49, of Manteca, and Ramesh Kumar Birla Jr., 47, of Dublin, to murder Victim 2. In February 2023, Boparai, Sandhu, and Birla repeatedly met with a person they believed to be a hitman at a Starbucks in Manteca. Unbeknownst to Singh and his co-defendants throughout their interactions, the hitman was a confidential informant working for the FBI. On Feb. 17, 2024, 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. The following day, Boparai met the confidential informant again and offered to pay $6,000 for the assault of Victim 1. In March 2023, in the presence of Birla and another individual, Boparai met with the confidential informant, and Boparai gave the confidential informant $1,000 as a down payment for the assault. After more time had passed, the confidential informant showed Boparai a staged photo of Victim l lying on the ground covered in bruises, dirt, and blood to indicate the assault had occurred. Boparai said he liked the photo and told the confidential informant that he had two other “jobs,” one of which involved robbing a business, and the other involved making a person “disappear.”…