Lotto win used as proof of powers, police allege
Self-styled mystic charged with fraud
August 2012 was a good month for Darshan Dhaliwal. He had been out of work for almost a year but, in an instant, thanks to the lottery he played every time the jackpot grew too big to resist, his fortunes changed. Dhaliwal had a winning ticket. He was a millionaire and suddenly went from being unemployed to being interviewed at an Ontario Lottery and Gaming prize centre, holding an oversized cheque for One Million Dollars, and telling a reporter that he had had to “splash water” on his face when his lucky numbers came up because he couldn’t quite believe that they did.
“This is life changing,” Dhaliwal told his local newspaper, South Asian Focus. “I had a feeling I was going to win one day.”
Dhaliwal had plans for his new-found wealth. He spoke of buying a new car and a new house. It is not known whether he ever made those purchases.
But police in Peel Region allege that the 40- year- old Brampton, Ont., man never tired of telling his alleged targets about his lottery win and his great riches.
Dhaliwal, police s ay, would carry around a clip of the newspaper story written about him as proof, both of his wealth and, as he would tell his alleged targets in Brampton’s Punjabi- speaking community, as a sign that he was close to God. He was blessed with good luck, he would allegedly say, and could ward off whatever evil spirits were troubling them — if they allegedly handed over great sums of cash and ultimately their evil- spiritinfected precious and sentimental jewels so that Dhaliwal could bury and pray over them.
“Every time you think you have heard it all, something new comes in,” says Const. Jason Walker of Peel Regional Police, the lead investigator on the Dhaliwal case.
The former lottery winner was arrested and charged this week with defrauding a middle- aged realtor out of approximately $ 61,000 in cash and personal jewelry.
Dhaliwal first appeared on Const. Walker’s radar in 2014, after a middle- aged South Asian woman who had been i ntroduced to Dhaliwal by an acquaintance approached police. She told them a story that, with minor variations, the fraud investigator has now heard in connection with the accused on three different occasions. It involves a lottery, a closeness to God, money, evil spirits inhabiting precious jewels and Dhaliwal’s ability to ward them off.
Dhaliwal was accused of fraud in 2014, but the charge was later withdrawn after he repaid the woman. Then another woman came forward, telling police she had met Dhaliwal on a South Asian online dating service for people who want to “meet people for keeps.” The woman outlined a scenario identical to the first.
Dhaliwal was charged with fraud. He repaid the money — approximately $14,000 in total between the two victims — and was placed under a 12-month peace bond last December, barring him from accepting payment of any kind “for any spiritual, religious or cultural healing.”
But he was allegedly already accepting payment for spiritual services rendered.
Dhaliwal had appeared at a Brampton open house in July, presenting himself to the realtor as a lottery winner with mystical powers, police say. He was interested in investing in some properties.
The realtor contacted police on Jan. 1, when she did not get her money or jewelry back as promised.
The former lottery winner is due in court Friday.