Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Lovepreet Singh was sentenced to 17 years to life in prison for the murder of 31-year-old Satnam Singh during a drive-by shooting in South Ozone Park in June 2022. Singh and his co-defendant carried out a targeted hit in broad daylight on the victim, who was killed while sitting in a car parked near his home.

District Attorney Katz said: “Four years ago, Satnam Singh’s life was taken because two individuals made a deliberate, calculated choice to carry out an act of gun violence. With this prison sentence of 17 years to life for one defendant and a prior 22-year prison term for another, we have achieved justice for the victim of this senseless shooting. We hope the sentencing brings a measure of closure to the victim’s loved ones as we continue to do all we can to remove illegal firearms from our streets and prevent more families from experiencing this kind of heartbreak.”

Singh, 30, of Jamaica, was convicted by a jury in January of murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. He was sentenced yesterday by Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise to 17 years to life.

Singh’s co-defendant, Rajtirath Bassi, 23, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the first degree on August 6, 2025, and was sentenced to 22 years in prison in November.

DA Katz said that, according to the charges and trial testimony, on June 25, 2022, at approximately 3:45 p.m., Singh drove past 31-year-old Satnam Singh in a gray Nissan Sentra with tinted windows, a black spoiler feature and a crooked rear license plate.

The victim was sitting in the driver’s seat of a Jeep Wrangler parked near his residence on the corner of 129^th Street and Sutter Avenue in South Ozone Park. As the Sentra slowed down and stopped before it passed the Jeep, a witness heard several loud bangs and saw an arm extended from the front passenger side of the gray car holding a gun. The victim was found in the Jeep with multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the head. He died at a local hospital later that day.

Police recovered several shell casings at the scene and extensive video evidence revealed the identities of the Sentra’s occupants. Approximately 30 minutes prior to the shooting, the Sentra parked at the corner of 101st Ave and 114th Street and Singh got out of the driver’s seat while Bassi exited the front passenger seat. The men went into a passport and visa service center where Singh attempted to get a passport.

After the shooting Singh and Bassi went to the wedding of friends in New Jersey.

Singh claimed that he hardly knew Bassi, but evidence presented at trial showed the pair had exchanged 146 phone calls in the three months surrounding the shooting.

Singh was apprehended in Pennsylvania on September 7, 2022.

Assistant District Attorney Gabriel J. Reale of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau prosecuted the case with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney John Margolies of Felony Trial Bureau III under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys John Kosinski, Homicide Bureau Chief, and Karen Ross and Jonathan Selkowe, Deputy Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.