By IANS
Vancouver : While official word on it was awaited, supporters of failed refugee claimant Laibar Singh forfeited the $50,000 bond they had put up to keep the disabled man in Canada.
Monday was the deadline for them to either hand over Singh to the Canadian Border Security Agency (CBSA) for deportation or face forfeiture of the bond.
Singh was currently hiding at the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple at Surrey here.
He came to Canada on a fake passport in 2003 and applied for refugee status. Even as his application was rejected repeatedly, Singh got paralysed in 2006.
He was ordered deported last July but his supporters whisked him away from a hospital to a gurdwara. After three reprieves of two months each, he was again ordered deported on Dec 10.
Again his supporters thwarted the CBSA at Vancouver Airport from deporting him. In exchange for keeping him, his supporters filed the bond under which they were to surrender him to the CBSA after three months.
That date, which expired March 3, was extended by a week after negotiations between his supporters and the CBSA.
The Sikh temple where Singh is hiding contributed $10,000 towards the bond. Another $10,000 came from the Surrey shrine of Amrit Parkash Temple. The Radio India chipped in with $5,000.