Gursimar Bedi has been found guilty of being an accessory after the fact in the murder of Maple Batalia, as ruled by a BC Supreme Court judge on May 27.
This decision comes months after Batalia’s ex-boyfriend Gurjinder Dhaliwal pled guilty to charges of second-degree murder, as he shot Batalia three times at Simon Fraser University’s Surrey campus on September 28, 2011. Bedi, an acquaintance of Dhaliwal’s, has now been found guilty for his connection with the murder.
Batalia was 19 years old. She was studying to become a doctor, and was also an aspiring model and actress.
According to Crown prosecutor Wendy Stephens, Dhaliwal killed her because Batalia wanted to end their relationship, as he had been unfaithful to her several times.
The Crown prosecutors in the case also charged Bedi with manslaughter, but he was acquitted of those charges. They stated in the closing arguments that they could not provide sufficient evidence to prove the allegations against Bedi.
A few days before the murder, Dhaliwal had Bedi rent a vehicle for him which allowed him to follow Batalia without her knowing. A court order had prevented Dhaliwal from renting it himself, so he enlisted Bedi’s help.
Bedi also kept tabs on Batalia, letting Dhaliwal know where she was and if she was with a new man. Witnesses placed Bedi at SFU on the day of the murder, and his cell phone signal was also picked up by the nearby cell towers.
However, the Crown could not prove that Bedi was present for the murder, leading to the acquittal of the manslaughter charge.
Bedi will be back in court on June 9, where he will be sentenced. Dhaliwal is already serving his sentence, which is life in prison with no chance of parole for 21 years. He was sentenced earlier this year.
