An Abbotsford man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2014 death of 35-year-old Tarsem Dhaliwal of Surrey.
Randeep Match, 36, is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on March 1.
Dhaliwal left his home Jan. 17, 2014 to meet a friend and never returned home.
Two days later, his family reported him missing to the Surrey RCMP and on Jan. 21 he was found dead inside his vehicle in the 18900 block of 92 Avenue in the Port Kells area.
Police at the time said that Match and Dhaliwal knew each other.
Cpl. Frank Jang of the Integrated Investigation Homicide Team (IHIT) said the team “worked tirelessly” in partnership with the RCMP to gather evidence in the case.
“A guilty plea, in any homicide investigation, speaks to the efforts and dedication by all involved,” he said.
Match had initially been charged with second-degree murder in the case.
His prior criminal history includes being sentenced in 2012 to five and a half years in prison on a charge of possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Match and another Abbotsford man, Manindervir Virk, were arrested in September 2009 after being spotted by the Air One police helicopter running through a berry field in the area of Mt. Lehman Road and Zero Avenue – along the Canada-U.S. border.
Officers dispatched to the scene discovered four duffel bags filled with 40 bricks of cocaine valued at between $1.4 and $2 million. Match and Virk were found hiding in some bushes and were arrested at the scene.
They were convicted in November 2011 and sentenced the following September.
Information at the sentencing hearing indicated that Match was married with two children and had been a truck driver before becoming a carpet layer.
He was also an active volunteer at the Sikh temple.
Match later appealed the sentence for his drug conviction, but the appeal was denied.
