Shaminderjit Singh Sandhu, a 51-year-old resident of Tracy, pleaded guilty to conspiring to use interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder for hire, according to an announcement by Acting U.S. Attorney Kimberly A. Sanchez.
Court documents state that Sandhu worked with Jagninder Singh Boparai, 49, of Manteca, and Ramesh Kumar Birla Jr., 47, of Dublin, in a plot targeting Victim 2. In February 2023, the three men met several times at a Starbucks in Manteca with someone they believed was a hitman. The individual was actually a confidential informant cooperating with the FBI.
On Feb. 17, 2024, Boparai told the supposed hitman that his first task would be assaulting Victim 1 as a test before being given another job. The next day, Boparai offered $6,000 for this assault. In March 2023, during another meeting attended by Birla and another person, Boparai paid $1,000 as a down payment for the attack on Victim 1. Afterward, when shown staged photos suggesting Victim 1 had been assaulted, Boparai expressed approval and mentioned two additional jobs: robbing a business and making someone “disappear.”
The documents further describe how in March 2023 Boparai agreed to pay $10,000 as an initial payment for murdering Victim 2. Sandhu provided the address of Victim 2 while Boparai instructed that there should be no evidence left behind. At one point during these preparations, Boparai called Birla twice to obtain Victim 2’s Facebook profile picture to share with the informant.
On March 24, 2023, Sandhu and Birla met with the confidential informant in Manteca and directed him to kill Victim 2 and transport the remains to Mexico in a suitcase. Surveillance later revealed that although Sandhu and Birla claimed Boparai was out of town during this meeting, he was present nearby.
All three men were arrested on March 31, 2023 and remain in federal custody.
The investigation involved multiple agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; California Highway Patrol; local police departments from Ceres https://www.ci.ceres.ca.us/192/Police-Department , Dublin https://www.dublin.ca.gov/210/Police , Lathrop https://www.ci.lathrop.ca.us/police , Modesto https://modestogov.com/196/Police-Department , Stockton https://stocktonca.gov/government/departments/police-department , Tracy https://tracypd.com/, Turlock https://ci.turlock.ca.us/policedepartment ; San Joaquin County Probation Office; San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office; Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigation; Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office; Homeland Security Investigations; and assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adrian T. Kinsella and Kevin Khasigian are prosecuting.
Sandhu is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 13, 2025 before U.S. District Judge Daniel J. Calabretta. He faces up to ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted but actual sentencing will depend on statutory factors considered by the court under federal guidelines.
Boparai pleaded guilty earlier this year on Jan. 23 and is awaiting sentencing set for Aug. 7 with potential penalties similar to those faced by Sandhu.
Birla has a status conference scheduled for Oct. 23 and remains presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
