A man accused by police in India of helping smuggle a family of four through Canada just before they froze to death on the Manitoba border with the United States has been found living freely in a suburb outside Toronto, an investigation by CBC’s The Fifth Estate has found.
Indian police allege Fenil Patel was one of two men who helped transport Jagdish Patel (no relation) and his family to the border during a blinding snowstorm and –35 C temperatures two years ago.
The Patel family died of exposure on Jan. 19, 2022, while attempting to cross illegally into Minnesota, near Emerson, Man. The frozen bodies of 39-year old Jagdish Patel, his 37-year old wife, Vaishali, their 11-year old daughter, Vihangi, and three-year old son, Dharmik, were found just 12 metres from the U.S. border.
Fenil Patel is facing charges in the Indian state of Gujarat of culpable homicide and human smuggling for his alleged role in the death of the Patel family.
My kids are a similar age to one of the children that died, it’s totally heartbreaking.
To imagine ushering my children out into the bitter bitter cold to try to build them a better life… so sad.
We need to build a world where people are less desperate.