TORONTO: A former leader of a Sikh temple in Canada has been convicted of killing his wife by a court in British Columbia province, according to a media report.
Baldev Singh Kalsi, the former president of the Brookside Sikh Temple in Surrey, has pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife that led to her death in 2014 in Surrey city.
Kalsi appeared in the provincial Supreme Court in New Westminster on Monday.
“Yes, your honor. I am guilty,” CBC news, a unit of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, quoted Kalsi as saying to the judge.
The judge has scheduled the sentencing hearing for February 22.
Kalsi’s wife Narinder Kaur was found with severe injuries at the couple’s south Surrey home on July 13, 2014. She was rushed to a hospital in critical condition and died days after she was taken off life support.
Kalsi was arrested and originally charged with aggravated assault, and then attempted murder. The charge was upgraded to second degree murder after his wife’s death, the report said.
Kalsi was ordered to stand trial on the charge following a preliminary inquiry early last year in Surrey Provincial Court. He had pleaded not-guilty at the beginning of those proceedings.
Since his arrest, Kalsi was removed as the president of the Brookside Sikh Temple, where Narinder used to work as a volunteer, it added.
The Sikhs account for roughly 1.4 per cent – over 450,000 in 2011 Census – of Canada’s population. The country’s defense minister is also from the community, which has its biggest concentrations in British Columbia and the Toronto area.-PTI
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