A father-and-son duo is accused of setting fire to their Queens print shop in the midst of eviction proceedings to get them kicked out of the space.
The criminal complaint against Narinder Singh and his son Jahwar Singh was unsealed on Thursday. Jahwar Singh appeared in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, where he was ultimately released on a $100,000 bond secured by his mother and sister.
His father, Narinder Singh, who needed medical attention and went to the hospital following his arrest, was brought to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
In video footage recovered following the Feb. 18 fire, the Singhs are seen in the print shop, located on 101st Avenue in Richmond Hill, standing at a table on which is a hotplate, rolls of paper towels, and other items. The two move the table to another part of the shop, according to law enforcement, and several minutes later, one of the rolls is seen on top of the hotplate, with four others nearby. The men then leave the scene.
Four hours later, around 12:30 p.m., the paper towel on top of the hot plate catches fire.
According to the criminal complaint, nobody entered the print shop between the time the Singhs left and the time the fire began. Prosecutors allege they used a smart plug to remotely activate the hotplate and start the fire.
Narinder and Jahwar Singh are charged with malicious use of fire or explosives to damage or destroy property used in interstate commerce.
“It was a crime done out of revenge,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Amzallag said at the court appearance on Thursday, citing the “acrimonious and highly personal” eviction proceedings that resulted in the Singhs getting evicted the same day as the fire.
Though Jahwar Singh secured his release, he may be facing proceedings beyond commercial eviction.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Amzallag said, an immigration judge ordered him detained. He and family members are in the process of seeking asylum, his defense attorney said, because his family had a disagreement with India’s BJP Party, with which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is affiliated.
Amzallag sought Jahwar Singh’s detention, noting that he was found “hiding in a crawl space” during his arrest and could flee, either to his home country of India or to a third country.
Robert Caliendo, Jahwar Singh’s court-appointed attorney, cited his family ties to New York City and Long Island — he lives with his father in West Hempstead, and his married to a U.S. citizen, although she’s currently not living with him — and the family’s persecution in India as reasons he’s not a flight risk.”They came here to get away from that,” he said.
Caliendo also said his client would be able to continue working because he actually works with his mother, who owns a separate print shop in Richmond Hill.
“The fact that the other business is now ash does not necessarily affect his ability to be productively employed,” Caliendo said.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo ordered Jahwar Singh not to speak to his father about the case, imposed a curfew, and ordered him not to travel outside of New York City and Long Island. She also ordered Jahwar Singh to stay away from the now-destroyed print shop.
As for the status of Jahwar Singh’s immigration proceeding, his attorney said following Thursday’s proceeding that he couldn’t say what to expect.
“Like a lot of people dealing with this immigration question, we simply don’t know what’s going to happen,” Caliendo said.
