By Abigail Swallow
SACRAMENTO – The deputy district attorney overreached a little—and in the end won one, but largely lost one here in Sacramento County Superior Court this week during a preliminary hearing involving two men charged with disrupting an engagement party.
The hearing, livestreamed through Zoom, examined charges against two men stemming from a conflict at an engagement party which turned into a potentially life threatening situation. The two Sacramento men face charges of illegal firearm ownership and drug possession, among others.
In 2019, one of the defendant’s brothers was celebrating his engagement with a party when an argument broke out between his brother, Harmeet Singh, and an in-law.
The argument occurred at the end of the night and Harmeet Singh was, at that point, still intoxicated, his brother testified. In response to the verbal argument taking place, the brother asked his sibling 
and all involved in the conflict to leave the party.
Harmeet Singh left the party along with another person involved in the conflict, Nischal Reddy.
An hour or so passed while the brother cleaned up the event space from the party. During this time Singh called his brother repeatedly, upset that he had been asked to leave the party. It wasn’t until around midnight that his brother arrived home and finally picked up Singh’s call.
Singh was angry and, according to a police statement taken from his brother, threatened to shoot or blow up the people in his brother’s home.
Later that evening, after the call, Singh and co-defendant Reddy arrived at Singh’s brother’s home where some relatives and friends had gathered after the engagement party. Here, Reddy and Singh again threatened others about shooting or blowing them up.
Those testifying noted that this is when police were called, according to the police report. Police asked both Reddy and Singh to sit on the curb outside the home. While Singh complied, Reddy attempted to move past the officers, who then patted him down, discovering that Reddy possessed a hand-gun. Both Singh and Reddy were arrested.
Singh faces a main charge in violation of Penal Code section 422 which outlines the offense as threatening to commit a crime and resulting in immediate family members fearing for their own safety. Reddy faces a primary charge in violation of Health and Safety Code section 11370.1(A) which makes the possession of any amount of cocaine illegal.
The officers had discovered both cocaine and marijuana through a search and seizure of Reddy’s car, which both defendants rode in to get to Singh’s brother’s home that night.
Through witness testimony it became apparent that defendant Reddy was in sole possession of the firearm and the drugs, despite the five counts related to the firearm and drug possession being held on both defendants.
Through questioning, the prosecutor attempted to associate Singh with the drug charges as well as the firearm on the basis of his proximity to the event (the drugs were stored in the passenger seat of the car).
That attempt failed—Harmeet Singh was only held on Count 1, threat of a crime that may result in death or critical injury. Because he didn’t own or possess the gun or drugs or car, Singh was able to shed the other four counts.
Reddy was held on all five counts, including illegal possession of a firearm along with possession of cocaine and willfully and unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon.
Arraignment has been set for this August 3 in Sacramento Superior Court Department 8, with a trial to follow later in the month.
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