'THE MYTHICAL BINDY,' COCAINE DEALER

Well-known Indo-Canadian gangster Bindy Johal was likely gunned down three
years ago in retaliation for mouthing off to some bikers and shooting up
their clubhouse several weeks earlier, his lawyer said Friday.

Russ Chamberlain said Johal, an admitted cocaine dealer, was not killed as
the result of Indo-Canadian gang activity, according to information he has
gleaned since the still-unsolved slaying in December 1998.

Chamberlain added that a forum police are planning on Indo-Canadian gang
violence June 15 is racist and a waste of time.

"This is a PR [ public relations] exercise by the police which will have
absolutely no efficacy in tracking down the people who commit these
crimes," Chamberlain said, adding it is designed "to get the heat off the
police for having been totally unsuccessful in solving any of these crimes."

In the case of Johal, Chamberlain doesn't think police have done very much
to solve the murder, which took place on the dance floor of a downtown
Vancouver nightclub.

"You try to find out how much effort they made to find out the person who
killed Bindy Johal," Chamberlain said. "The best information they've got,
and it coincides with my information on the street, is that it was a biker
that killed Bindy and it was in retaliation for Bindy going out to the
clubhouse . . . in his own vehicle and basically mouthing off and shooting
the place up."

Including the Johal murder, there have been about 50 deaths of young
Indo-Canadian men in recent years that police have attributed to gang and
drug violence. Almost all remain unsolved.

Several Lower Mainland police chiefs came together Thursday to announce the
day-long forum, which has been endorsed by leaders of the Indo-Canadian
community.

Former premier Ujjal Dosanjh thinks the forum is a good first step,
although it will probably not result in a solution.

"Anything is better than nothing," Dosanjh said. "I believe if we have to
start somewhere I am glad police are getting together with others to at
least begin to talk about this problem."

Dosanjh said the situation is much like it was in the 1980s, when some
militant Sikh separatists threatened and attacked other members of their
community, including him, but few charges were ever laid.

"Fifty young men had to be killed with bullets before somebody began to pay
concerted attention to the issue," Dosanjh said. "But the solutions are not
going to be found by conversing with the experts or a few activists or
leaders. . . . What you really have to have is a debate or a dialogue
within the community."

Dosanjh said the gang problem is only talked about at the moment "in hushed
tones" behind closed doors in Indo-Canadian homes.

"People have to begin to talk about the issue openly," he said. "And that
open discussion, it shouldn't be a taboo."

But Chamberlain said the forum will allow police to blame the Indo-Canadian
community for not cooperating enough to solve the violence.

"It has at its base bigotry, in my respectful view, and they need to stop
being bigots and engage in real police work, which is getting people to
infiltrate these communities if indeed they are filled with crime,"
Chamberlain said.

As for Johal, who many believe inspired a new generation of gang members,
Chamberlain said the young man has become mythical in death.

"Bindy -- his myth has grown. He was a mythical character that indeed did
have a tremendous amount of influence over young Indo-Canadians. He was
held in reverence and respect, and to some extent I think young
Indo-Canadians who are the butt . . . of racism looked to a man like Bindy
who could stand up to the police."

Chamberlain has represented several young Indo-Canadians accused of being
involved in the violence, in addition to Johal.

He is currently the lawyer for Sarbjit Singh Dhanda, charged with killing
Richmond resident Kam Jawanda last fall. Police have included that case in
the list of incidents linked to gangs and drugs.

"Some of those murders I happen to know aren't related to drugs based on
the information that I have got," Chamberlain said. "There have been three
or four people killed related to that particular case [Jawanda] and the
police are putting it out on the street that that is drug-related. It may
well not be."

Chamberlain has also represented the Buttar brothers, three Richmond
residents whom police have linked to gang activity. One of them, Bal, was
disabled in a shooting last August. The youngest, Kelly, was murdered last
fall.

Chamberlain said the police pick on Indo-Canadians and other members of
minority groups.

"If they want to stop murder, mayhem amongst Canadian citizens, especially
in coastal ports, they have to decriminalize drugs," Chamberlain said.
"Decriminalize drugs and you won't have very many murders in this province."