MARGATE, Fla. – Somjeet Christopher Singh owed Suren Seetal about $315,000 in debt and Seetal was starting to collect. So Singh — also known as “Lil Chris” — paid another suspect to hire a hitman in order to kill him.
That’s all according to newly-obtained federal court documents shedding light on the alleged November kidnapping and murder of the 36-year-old airplane mechanic. Authorities announced indictments in the case Monday.
While Seetal, of Miami-Dade, worked in the aviation field and Singh, 29, ran a Broward HVAC business, federal prosecutors allege that the two were also in the business of buying and selling fireworks — and that’s where the massive debt stemmed from.
Prosecutors allege that Singh gave 24-year-old Avin Seetaram — also known as “Smalls” — $5,000 in cash and forgave $10,000 worth of his debt in order to hire a hitman to kill Seetal.
Seetaram would then turn around and pay 18-year-old Gavin Hunter $5,000 to kill him, authorities said.
Prosecutors allege that the three had been conspiring to kill Seetal for several months.
Video obtained exclusively by Local 10 News showed an armed, masked man running after shooting at Seetal outside his home in Miami in July; he jumped in a car and takes off.
Seetal reached out to police. He wasn’t injured, but went missing on Nov. 2.
That’s when court documents state Seetaram lured Seetal to the Dr. HVAC warehouse, located at 5441 NW 15th St. in Margate, by sending him a text of a key inside of a drawer. That’s where prosecutors said Hunter shot and killed him.
Cell phone and toll records from Nov. 4 placed Singh’s work van along Alligator Alley and Snake Road on the Big Cypress Indian Reservation in far western Broward County, prosecutors allege. Authorities would find Seetal’s body on the Seminole reservation Nov. 21, according to prosecutors.
Authorities said the day prior, Singh had Seetal’s car towed from the business and he and Seetaram were seen on surveillance video buying a yard waste cart at a South Florida Home Depot.
Family members had been looking for Seetal during the intervening period and had offered a reward seeking his safe return.
Singh, Seetaram and Hunter are all facing charges of murder-for-hire conspiracy, murder-for-hire, kidnapping conspiracy, kidnapping and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors said they could face life in prison or the death penalty.