Kiran Dhesi case: Killer's family members not guilty of helping cover up slaying, court finds

Two men accused of helping to cover up the killing of Bhavkiran 'Kiran' Dhesi in Surrey more than five years ago have been found not guilty.

Harjot Deo has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and manslaughter and indignity to human remains in the 2017 slaying of his 19-year-old girlfriend. His bother, Gurvinder, and another relative, Talwinder Khun Khun, were accused of being accessories after the fact and acquitted. The judge's 186-paragraph decision followed a 19-day trial in B.C. Supreme Court and was posted online Friday.

Justice Jeanne E. Watchuk began by noting that Dhesi's famiy were in the courtroom for the trial and the verdict, expressing her "sincere condolences" for their loss.

Harjot, the judge noted, has yet to be sentenced for fatally shooting Dhesi in his bedroom before moving her body, along with "blood-soaked linens," to an SUV that he set on fire.

After that, the judge wrote, "a flurry of communications occurred between a select group of six individuals" which the prosecution argued "set into motion the chain of events that amounted to the accuseds assisting Harjot in covering up the killing of Ms. Dhesi."

Gurvinder and Talwinder were accused of doing a number of things that amounted to helping Harjot cover up the crime, including moving and burning a mattress from the crime scene, helping to dispose of the gun, and getting rid of surveillance footage.

The judge, in acquitting the men, noted that in order to find them guilty the Crown would have had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the pair both knew of the crime and helped to cover it up.

"It is possible that Harjot phoned his brother, immediately confessed to the manslaughter of Ms. Dhesi, and requested the assistance of Gurvinder and Talwinder to escape liability," she wrote.

"I find that the totality of the evidence viewed logically and in light of human experience has not proven that the only reasonable inference is that the accuseds are guilty … I have found that it is not proven that the accuseds had actual knowledge of the manslaughter committed by Harjot, or that they acted for the purpose of assisting Harjot."

Gurvinder and Talwinder were not the only family members to face charges related to Dhesi's death. Harjot's mother and sister were also charged as accessories after the fact. The charges against his sister were stayed, while his mother pleaded guilty to willfully resisting or obstructing a police officer and was sentenced to a conditional discharge, with 12 months of probation and a $200 victim surcharge.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Meagan Gill