US cops say Sikh man’s murder may be hate crime

POLICE IN California are investigating the murder of a 32-year old Sikh man as a possible “hate crime” after he refused to sell cigarettes to a man who did not have proper ID.

Jagjeet Singh, who was a clerk at the Hatch Food and Gas convenience store in California’s Modesto city, had come to the United States 18 months ago from Punjab. Singh was stabbed to death last week after he apparently refused to sell cigarettes to his attacker as he did not have proper ID.

Heather Graves, a Modesto Police Department spokeswoman, told NBC News that Singh and one of the suspects had had a confrontation inside the store. “We have a few witnesses giving some information but that’s still under investigation,” she said. “We just know that there were words exchanged between the two of them.”

Asked whether the stabbing may have been a hate crime, Graves said, “That is a possibility and we are investigating that possibility as well.”

Police have released a surveillance picture of the man who got into the argument with Singh.

The preliminary findings suggest that Singh was securing the business after closing when he was approached by the suspect. The suspect, described as a Hispanic male, stabbed Singh and then fled from the scene, according to the police. PTI