Sarbjit Bains pleads guilty to three homicides, including that of Amritpal Saran

Relatives of murder victim Amritpal Saran at a January 2014 press conference. Photo by Inderjit Singh
Relatives of murder victim Amritpal Saran at a January 2014 press conference.
Photo by Inderjit Singh

ON February 24, 2013, Amritpal Saran was found deceased on Colebrook Road in Surrey.

This was followed by two deaths in New Westminster. In 2013, on August 12, Jill Lyons was found dead in an apartment on the 200-block of 11th Street, and on August 25, Karen Nabors was also found dead in the same building. Both were friends and worked as online escorts.

At the time, police said that Saran was known to them but had no known gang association.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) took conduct of the New Westminster homicides and worked in conjunction with the New Westminster Police Department to determine that 34-year-old Sarbjit Bains of Surrey was a suspect in all three homicides.

On January 3, 2014, after a lengthy and thorough investigation, Bains was arrested and charged in the murders of Saran, Lyons and Nabors.

He has now pled guilty to one count of manslaughter in the death of Saran, and two counts of second-degree murder for the deaths of Lyons and Nabors.

On January 3, 2014, Bain’s girlfriend Evelina Urbaniuk was arrested and charged for indignity to Saran’s remains. She has since pled guilty and has been sentenced to two years less a day and three years of probation.

Superintendent Dwayne Mcdonald, Officer in Charge of IHIT, said: “This guilty plea is a testament to the commitment and professionalism with which this investigation was conducted.  The commitment of the members of IHIT, New Westminster Police Department and the support units who assisted in this investigation has led to this successful conclusion and the assurance that the public is safe from this individual.”

NWPD Chief Constable Dave Jones said: “The hard work done by the IHIT and NWPD investigators resulted in the timely apprehension of Mr. Bains. The guilty pleas entered this afternoon by Mr. Bains have validated that hard work and is another example of the value and effectiveness of integrated policing in investigating complex crimes such as homicides”