Manteca Man Gets 9 Years for Hiring a Hitman

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Jagninder Singh Boparai, 49, of Manteca, is headed to federal prison for nine years after being convicted of orchestrating a cold-blooded murder-for-hire plot, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced today. The scheme, thankfully foiled by federal investigators, involved multiple targets and escalating demands for violence.

According to court documents, Boparai, driven by personal grudges, engaged in a series of meetings with an individual he believed to be a professional hitman. These weren’t idle boasts; Boparai laid out specific “jobs,” initially requesting an assault to “teach a lesson” to two of his enemies. He even offered payments – a chilling $6,000 for the first beating – demonstrating a clear intent to inflict harm. What Boparai didn’t know was that he was dealing with a confidential informant working with the FBI.

The plot thickened. After establishing “trust” with the informant, Boparai upped the ante, offering a $1,000 down payment on the assault and, later, a staggering $10,000 as a down payment for a full-blown murder. He provided the informant with the address of a second victim, explicitly instructing that the target should “disappear” without a trace. Boparai’s co-conspirators, Ramesh Kumar Birla Jr., 47, of Dublin, and Shaminderjit Singh Sandhu, 51, of Tracy, actively participated, even attempting to mislead investigators about Boparai’s whereabouts while discussing the logistics of disposing of a body – instructing the informant to transport remains to Mexico in a suitcase.

“This defendant met on five separate occasions with a person he thought to be a hitman and provided payments for the services he desired in order to ‘teach a lesson’ to two of his enemies,” stated U.S. Attorney Grant. “Fortunately, there was no hitman, and today’s sentence teaches a lesson that the U.S. Attorney’s Office will use all its tools to bring to justice those who endanger the safety of the public.” The staged photograph of a fake assault victim, presented by the informant to demonstrate capability, was apparently enough to further embolden Boparai, who then expanded his requests to include a robbery and further acts of violence.

Special Agent in Charge Sid Patel of the FBI’s Sacramento Field Office emphasized the agency’s commitment to preventing such crimes. “The FBI has a zero tolerance for violent crimes and will take action to prevent assaults and homicides from happening,” Patel said. “We are grateful to our law enforcement partners for their support and collaboration that ensured both the safety of the victims and a successful outcome to a critical investigation.”

Boparai, Birla, and Sandhu were all arrested on March 31, 2023, and remain in federal custody. The investigation involved a massive collaborative effort from numerous agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and multiple local police departments. Assistant U.S. Attorneys are handling the prosecution. This case serves as a stark reminder that attempting to circumvent the law with violence will be met with swift and decisive action from federal authorities.

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