 "Bullet holes are seen in the windows of Kapil Sharma's Kap Cafe, in Surrey, British Columbia on Thursday, July 10. The Canadian Press/AP")
Indian comedian and actor Kapil Sharma had recently launched Kap’s Café in Surrey, a city in British Columbia, Canada. However, just days after its inauguration, the café came under fire on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday (July 9-10) with an unidentified attacker firing at least nine shots at the establishment.
Shortly after the incident, Harjit Singh alias Laddi, an operative of the banned terror group Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), claimed responsibility for the shooting, saying that it was in retaliation for comments made about the Nihang Sikhs’ attire during a television show hosted by Kapil Sharma.
The Vancouver Sun reports that the attack on Sharma’s café joins the list of businesses being targeted in Surrey. In fact, since June, there are have five such cases affecting the South Asian business community in the city.
As the police now investigates, we take a closer look at what happened at Sharma’s Kap’s Café and who’s Laddi, the man who claimed to be behind it.
What happened at Kap’s Café?
In the wee hours of Thursday, around 2 am local time, multiple gunshots were fired at Sharma’s newly-inaugurated Kap’s Café located at the 8400-block of 120th Street in Surrey.
Shortly later, authorities from the Surrey Police Service arrived at the scene during which they determined that shots were fired towards the business, damaging the property, while staff members were still present inside. Fortunately, there were no injuries to anyone at the business.
Staff Sgt Lindsey Houghton of the Surrey Police told local media that authorities were investigating the situation but it was too early to determine motives or identify suspects. “Anytime bullets are flying indiscriminately and brazenly, whether it’s the middle of the night or the middle of day, the chances of someone getting hurt are very high, and we’ve been very lucky and fortunate so far that no one’s been injured or killed,” he was quoted as telling Vancouver City News.
An eight-second video posted to social media shows 10 gunshots being fired from a handgun towards the business. The video, apparently filmed from the shooter’s perspective inside a vehicle, has not been verified by police.
According to local media, this is the fifth such incident of South Asian businesses being targeted in Surrey, prompting anger from residents. As Satish Kumar, one of the residents of Surrey told Vancouver Sun, “It’s very tough to live in Surrey right now, there’s too much crime going on. Every day there’s shootings happening.”
In response to the shooting, Kapil Sharma’s Kap’s Café issued a statement on social media, which read: “We opened Kap’s Cafe with hopes of bringing warmth, community and joy through delicious coffee and friendly conversations. To have violence intersect with that dream is heartbreaking. We are processing this shock but we are not giving up.”
Who’s behind the shooting at Kap’s Café?
While the Canadian police said that it was investigating all angles of the crime, Harjit Singh alias Laddi, who is a member of the Khalistani terror group Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) , claimed responsibility for the incident in a Facebook post.
For those who don’t know, the BKI is among the oldest and most organised Khalistan terrorist groups. It was declared a terrorist organisation in India in 2018 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
But who exactly is Laddi?
Originally from Garpadhana village in the Aur area of Nawanshahr in Punjab, Laddi is designated as one of India’s most wanted terrorists. India’s central counter-terrorism law enforcement agency, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), just last year placed a Rs 10 lakh reward to his name.
Believed to be based in Germany, Laddi has been accused of orchestrating several violent attacks in Punjab, including targeted attacks on right-wing leaders. According to Indian authorities, he is also responsible for the assassination of Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Vikas Prabhakar in April 2024. Prabhakar, also known as Vikas Bagga, was shot dead by BKI terrorists at his confectionary shop at Nangal in Punjab’s Rupnagar district on April 13, 2024.
Reports state that Laddi operates under the directives of Wadhawa Singh Babbar, the Pakistan-based chief of BKI. Additionally, he’s been tasked to provide arms, financial support, and communication logistics to ground operatives across Indian cities.
What’s the motive for Laddi shooting at Kapil Sharma’s café?
In the Facebook post in which he claims responsibility for the shooting at Kapil Sharma’s café, Laddi claimed it was owing to the stand-up comic’s remarks made in The Kapil Sharma Show. The post mentions that a character in the show made certain remarks on Nihang Sikhs. The post says that Laddi tried contacting Sharma’s manager about it but the calls went unanswered.
He also reportedly warned Sharma of more consequences if he didn’t publicly apologise.
While the Canadian police has not spoken on the Khalistani link to the shooting at Sharma’s café, a journalist pointed out that the shooting was a “very bad sign of things escalating in Canada”.
In an interview with news agency ANI, Canadian journalist Daniel Bordman said, “It’s a very bad sign of things escalating in Canada. I mean we have already seen a big uptick in extremist violence, especially post-October 7. The Khalistanis have been going on for a few years as well. We’ve seen fire bombings of synagogues, shooting up of Jewish play schools. We’ve seen, of course, the attack on the mandir by the Khalistanis.
“But this is disturbing because it presents sort of a new type of escalation, because this is an attack on a cafe that opened a few days ago, owned by a famous Indian comedian. But what’s interesting about this one is the Babbar Khalsa International, a listed terrorist organisation in both countries…The Babbar Khalsa International infamously blew up the Air India 182. They’re taking responsibility for it.”
He further pointed out that the shooting at Kap’s Café was an escalation in violence. “This is another step up the ladder where it’s an act of violence and intimidation, where they then post the media, the social media themselves post their crime online.”
With inputs from agencies