File Photo: A memorial near the entrance of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin.
OAK CREEK, WI, USA (July 12, 2014)—One of the survivors of the Oak Creek, WI Gurdwara tragedy has asked a court to determine how donations were distributed. Bhai Santokh Singh was at the Gurdwara when a white supremacist opened fire and killed six Sikhs. People from all over the world contributed to the fund established to help the survivors of the massacre, however Santokh Singh is concerned that the money may not have been distributed properly.
Picture of Santokh Singh (on left) after being discharged from the hospital
Sikh24 tried to contact Santokh Singh at the Oak Creek Gurdwara where he still works on weekends, despite a restraining order against him, however he was not available to comment.
A number of campaigns were set up to collect donations for the funeral and the medical expenses of the survivors—these campaigns included online donations. Sikh organizations had also awarded Lt. Brian Murphy, who was show 18 times and was left critically wounded during the attack.
As per Christopher Stawski, the attorney for Santokh Singh, a number of letters were sent to the current Gurdwara President and Amardeep Kaleka, son of the slain Gurdwara President, Satwant Singh Kaleka, requesting information. Santokh Singh and his lawyers claim no response has been received so far.
According to sources, all funds collected were handed to the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin and distributed from there. Amar Kaleka, who is currently running for Congress in Wisconsin, says that the Gurdwara did respond to Stawski and Singh by pointing them to their public tax records.
“This is a tit for tat situation…in order to get more funds. This is the same priest that my father saved when he attacked the gunman. Santokh was given $75k of the collected funds, while families of deceased were given $125k. He felt he deserved more and that he deserved citizenship or help with his VISA. Neither I nor the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin could help him with this. Instead, we connected him to the appropriate federal authorities, who gave him the proper steps,” Kaleka said in a statement. “So he asked for records multiple times to which the STOW has multiple times given him or directed him to, or opened up for him to collect.“
The six victims killed included one woman: Paramjit Kaur, 41; and five men: Satwant Singh Kaleka, 65, the founder of the Gurdwara; Prakash Singh, 39, an assistant priest; Sita Singh, 41; Ranjit Singh, 49; and Suveg Singh, 84. A Sikh preacher named Punjab Singh who was visiting the Gurdwara was left in critical condition.
Police Officer Brian Murphy was shot 8 times while responding to calls for help. Sikhs for Justice, a New York-based group, pledged a $10,000 award to Murphy. Two Sikh residents of Yuba City, California donated another $100,000 to officer Murphy for his heroic acts.
The third anniversary of the attack is coming up in less than a month.
“Sadly, across every national tragedy – these types of disagreements happen even two years after. Many in national leadership felt that the STOW did such a good job given the number of people involved under horrible circumstances that they asked me to be on the expert panel of the National Compassion Fund. This is a federally run initiative for future tragedies of mass shootings. With this in place for the future, disagreements and problems like this will be minimized,” said Kaleka.