A Sikh man was found dead at his store in New Jersey’s East Orange on Thursday, local channel ABC7 reported. This is the third reported attack on a member of the Sikh community in three weeks.
The police are investigating the attack on Terlok Singh, which the Essex County Prosecutor’s office has described as a homicide. Investigators are yet to share information on a possible motive or cause of death. Singh’s cousin found his body in the store he owned for at least 60 years, the report said.
The incident follows an attack on a 71-year-old Sikh man in California’s Manteca city on August 6. Police said two teenagers, including the son of a police chief, were arrested for assaulting and attempting to rob the man.
On July 31, a 50-year-old Sikh man was allegedly assaulted and racially abused in California’s Keyes. The victim, Surjit Singh Malhi, was struck with a stick and some other weapon on the head and body, and his pickup truck was painted with a white nationalist symbol and the words “Go back to your country.”
Shiromani Akali Dal leaders Sukhbir Singh Badal and Union Cabinet Minister of Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal requested Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj to intervene in the matter.“These hate crimes in United States are reaching an alarming level now,” Harsimrat Kaur Badal said on Twitter. “Appeal to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to personally intervene and take up this matter with the authorities there. My heartfelt condolences to the family.”
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