A verdict was recently handed down in California for Bakshinderpal Singh Mann, who helped bury his newborn and then fled to Canada.
A disturbing case that began with an illicit sexual encounter, resulting in the woman becoming pregnant and giving birth to a child who was promptly killed and buried, came to an end last month in California after 31-year-old Bakshinderpal Singh Mann was sentenced to six years in prison with credit for time served.
Mann was the final defendant in the case, and pleaded no contest to his role in the child’s death last year.
The case
The case occurred in 2018 when Benette Dillon, the child’s grandmother, drowned and was killed in November. She told investigators that she killed the child because her daughter was a minor and unmarried.The unwed mother was 15 when she became pregnant with 23-year-old Mann. The mother hid her pregnancy until she gave birth in the bathroom of the family’s home in Bakersfield on November 12, 2018.
Dhillon immediately took the child and drowned her because she feared that her unmarried daughter’s pregnancy would bring shame on the family within the local Sikh community.Investigators said Mann helped bury the child’s body in a shallow grave in the backyard.Jagsir Singh, the teen mother’s father, told police he was not home during the baby’s birth and death, but was told what happened afterward, according to the police report.
He told police that he allowed the child to be buried in the backyard and did not seek medical care for his daughter because he feared his wife would kick him out of the house and he might be deported.
Discover the case
There was no report of the newborn being killed, and no one knew what happened. The teenage mother lost consciousness after giving birth and was later told that the baby had been put up for adoption. Months later, after a family dispute in which she learned that the child had been buried behind the house, she trusted the school counselors, who informed the police.
Investigators recovered the infant’s remains from the backyard on February 26, 2019.Mann was already under immigration supervision and had a GPS monitoring device. But after the child’s remains were discovered, Mann removed his GPS monitoring device and fled to Canada, where he remained for two years. He was arrested in Canada in 2021 and remained in custody in Canada until extradition proceedings were completed.He was returned to Kern County in late 2024, entered a plea agreement in September 2025, and was sentenced in June. Defense lawyer Elliot Magnus said the years Mann spent in custody in Canada count toward his sentence. “I hope this brings closure for everyone and they can move forward,” Magnus said following the sentencing.
What happened to the others?
Dillon was convicted of first-degree murder in 2020 and is serving a 29-year prison sentence. Jagsir Singh, who was accused of participating in it, died by suicide after posting bail in 2019.
