India’s prime minister offered his condolences after spiritual leader Baba Hardev Singh, 62, died when the car he was travelling in on Thursday- 12th May 2016 overturned on Highway 30 in Beauharnois, just west of Montreal. Hardev Singh was the chief of the Sant Nirankari Mission, which has 2,000 centres around the world, including one in Pointe-Claire. “People are just devastated,” Davinder Dhanoa, a follower of Hardev Singh, told the Montreal Gazette. “He was amazing, the most humble person you would ever meet,” added Dhanoa, who travelled to Montreal from his home in Toronto with his father, wife and daughter after hearing the news. Hardev Singh visited Canada every two or three years, Dhanoa said. “I remember he used to have RCMP security when he first used to come to Canada,” he said. “The RCMP officers were so impressed because they had done other leaders and when they met him they were so impressed with how humble he was, just a normal person.” Hardev Singh had 10 to 15 million followers around the world, including about 3,000 in Canada and about 200 in Montreal, Dhanoa said. Hardev Singh was in a black Cadillac SUV travelling on westbound Highway 30 at Kilometre 22. He was on a tour, visiting several centres, and was scheduled to visit the Pointe-Claire establishment. The Sûreté du Québec arrived at the crash scene around 7:30 p.m. It appears the vehicle, travelling in the left lane, suddenly shifted to the right for an unknown reason, hit the ditch and overturned. There were four people in the car. “The driver and the front passenger were not seriously hurt, but the two people in the back were ejected,” SQ Sgt. Ingrid Asselin said. She said the other backseat passenger, a 28-year-old man, also from India, was in serious condition in a hospital on Friday. The Nirankari mission began as a reform movement within Sikhism. The Sant Nirankari Movement or Universal Brotherhood Movement, which was started by Baba Buta Singh in the 1920s, believes in the importance of a living leader. Sikhism, on the other hand, believes in the Sikh scriptures as their final guru. It was this difference that caused the Sant Nirankari movement, which separated from mainstream Sikhism in 1929. Asselin said police suspect the men in the back were not wearing seatbelts. The vehicle will undergo a mechanical inspection to determine whether it had any defects. Asselin said it is not known why the vehicle turned over, but said alcohol was not suspected to be the cause.
India’s prime minister offered his condolences after spiritual leader Baba Hardev Singh, 62, died when the car he was travelling in on Thursday- 12th May 2016 overturned on Highway 30 in Beauharnois, just west of Montreal. Hardev Singh was the chief of the Sant Nirankari Mission, which has 2,000 centres around the world, including one in Pointe-Claire. “People are just devastated,” Davinder Dhanoa, a follower of Hardev Singh, told the Montreal Gazette. “He was amazing, the most humble person you would ever meet,” added Dhanoa, who travelled to Montreal from his home in Toronto with his father, wife and daughter after hearing the news. Hardev Singh visited Canada every two or three years, Dhanoa said. “I remember he used to have RCMP security when he first used to come to Canada,” he said. “The RCMP officers were so impressed because they had done other leaders and when they met him they were so impressed with how humble he was, just a normal person.” Hardev Singh had 10 to 15 million followers around the world, including about 3,000 in Canada and about 200 in Montreal, Dhanoa said. Hardev Singh was in a black Cadillac SUV travelling on westbound Highway 30 at Kilometre 22. He was on a tour, visiting several centres, and was scheduled to visit the Pointe-Claire establishment. The Sûreté du Québec arrived at the crash scene around 7:30 p.m. It appears the vehicle, travelling in the left lane, suddenly shifted to the right for an unknown reason, hit the ditch and overturned. There were four people in the car. “The driver and the front passenger were not seriously hurt, but the two people in the back were ejected,” SQ Sgt. Ingrid Asselin said. She said the other backseat passenger, a 28-year-old man, also from India, was in serious condition in a hospital on Friday. The Nirankari mission began as a reform movement within Sikhism. The Sant Nirankari Movement or Universal Brotherhood Movement, which was started by Baba Buta Singh in the 1920s, believes in the importance of a living leader. Sikhism, on the other hand, believes in the Sikh scriptures as their final guru. It was this difference that caused the Sant Nirankari movement, which separated from mainstream Sikhism in 1929. Asselin said police suspect the men in the back were not wearing seatbelts. The vehicle will undergo a mechanical inspection to determine whether it had any defects. Asselin said it is not known why the vehicle turned over, but said alcohol was not suspected to be the cause.
