Baltej Singh, the nephew of Satwant Singh—one of the bodyguards who assassinated India’s former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984—was arrested in 2023 in New Zealand. He is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for importing huge amounts of methamphetamine, according to the NZ Herald.
Until recently, his name could not be published in New Zealand because of a court case about name suppression. That restriction has now been lifted.
Who is Baltej Singh?
Baltej Singh was not always on the wrong side of the law. He was a respected businessman based in Auckland. However,according to the NZ Herald, in 2021, he rented an industrial unit and began importing large quantities of drugs. These included ephedrine, a chemical used to make meth, and methamphetamine itself.
According to the report, in August 2021, Singh imported 1,440 cans of coconut water from New Delhi, some containing ephedrine and meth dissolved in liquid. A few months later, he brought in another shipment of coconut water from New Delhi via Dubai, again containing ephedrine and meth.
In 2022, the shipments became even bigger. In October, a 40-foot container arrived from Toronto with nearly 30,000 cans of Honey Bear beer. In December, another container came from the US with 22,680 bottles of kombucha. Singh collected both shipments in January 2023 and stored them at his rented unit.
Singh’s family background drew international attention. His uncle, Satwant Singh, helped assassinate India’s then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984 and was executed five years later. Because of this, multiple overseas outlets, at the time, reported Baltej Singh’s name in connection with the drug case in 2023.
In New Zealand, judges can restrict media reports about court cases, but these orders don’t apply internationally.
Singh’s co-defendant, Himatjit Kahlon, received a 21-year sentence for manslaughter. Kahlon was found guilty of causing the death of 21-year-old Aiden Sagala, who overdosed in March 2023 after drinking a “Honey Bear” can he mistakenly believed contained beer.
Baltej Singh was arrested shortly after Sagala was hospitalised. Police found over $10,000 in his backpack. Searches of Singh’s storage units uncovered 338.6 kilograms of solid meth and another 428.6 kilograms of liquid meth, which contained an estimated 260–340 kilograms of the drug. Police also found $121,600 in cash in his car.
Name suppression initially granted
Justice Kiri Tahana of the High Court in Auckland initially agreed to suppress Singh’s name locally. His father told the court that the family had long faced threats because of their connection to Indira Gandhi’s assassin and had become “notorious” among Sikhs and Hindus. She cited affidavits from Singh’s family, who said they had long faced threats because of the 1984 assassination.
But the Crown opposed this decision. In November 2025, the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the Crown, saying the public had a right to know Singh’s identity because of the serious nature of his crimes. Singh has since decided not to appeal further, so his name can now be officially published in New Zealand.