Man Sentenced To Federal Prison For Murder-For-Hire Scheme

MANTECA, CA — A Manteca man who pleaded guilty to a murder-for-hire scheme was sentenced to nine years in federal prison this week, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced.

In January, Jagninder Singh Boparai, 48, admitted to conspiring with two men--Ramesh Kumar Birla Jr., 45, from Dublin, who has not yet entered a plea, and Shaminderjit Singh Sandhu, 51, from Tracy, who pleaded guilty in July-- to murder someone referred to as "Victim 2" in court documents, according to prosecutors.

In February 2023, Boparai met with a person he believed to be a hitman at a Starbucks in Manteca who was actually an undercover FBI agent, prosecutors said.

Boparai told the supposed hitman that the first job involved the assault of "Victim 1," and "once he proved his trustworthiness, he would be given another job."

The following day, Boparai met the confidential informant again and offered to pay $6,000 for the assault of Victim 1. In March 2023, allegedly in the presence of Birla and another person, Boparai met with the confidential informant, and Boparai gave the undercover agent $1,000 as a down payment for the assault.

The confidential informant later showed Boparai a staged photo of Victim 1 laying on the ground covered in bruises, dirt, and blood to indicate the assault had occurred. Boparai said he liked the photo and told the confidential informant that he had two other "jobs," one of which involved robbing a business, and the other involved making a person "disappear," prosecutors said.

According to court documents, in March 2023, Boparai met with the confidential informant to pay them $10,000 as a down payment for the murder of Victim 2. Sandhu provided Victim 2's address, and Boparai instructed the confidential informant that Victim 2 must "disappear without any evidence remaining," the DOJ said.

Boparai then allegedly made two calls to Birla asking for Victim 2's Facebook profile, which he showed to the undercover agent.

On March 24, 2023, Sandhu met with the confidential informant in a parking lot in Manteca. Sandhu claimed that Boparai was out of town, but Boparai was observed by surveillance remaining in a car in the same parking lot, according to prosecutors. Sandhu allegedly instructed the confidential informant to kill Victim 2 and take Victim 2's remains to Mexico in a suitcase. Birla was allegedly involved in this as well.

All three defendants were arrested on March 31, 2023, and are currently in federal custody. Each face the same penalties as Boparai, the DOJ said.

By Katy St. Clair / Bay City News

Copyright © 2025 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.