Shotgun video raises concern of Indian community ‘gun culture’

International sport stars have been caught up in controversy over a video of them watching shotguns being blasted, triggering calls for a crackdown in Australia’s Indian community | WATCH

A social media video of a group of Indian men firing multiple blasts from several shotguns on a country property believed to be on the outskirts of Melbourne has raised concerns in the community.

A social media video of a group of Indian men firing multiple blasts from shotguns on a country property believed to be on the outskirts of Melbourne has raised concerns in the community.

The minute-long video — posted on Facebook earlier this week — features about a dozen men gathered at the property and shows a number of them firing shotguns.

The Australian has been told among the group watching the firing of the shotguns were a number of Indian kabaddi competitors taking part in a major tournament in Victoria this weekend.

In the video, the men can be seen loading ammunition into the weapons and pulling the trigger about a dozen times as they aim into the sky.

In the opening scene, a man dressed in jeans lifts a shotgun to his shoulder and lets loose with a volley of six shots. In another scene, a man with a broad grin is filmed holding a box of ammunition and handing his friend cartridges to load into the weapon.

In one scene, two men are filmed alongside each other firing shotguns into the sky. The video shows several of the men casually walking around holding the weapons over their arms and shoulders.

A social media video of a group of Indian men firing multiple blasts from several shotguns on a country property believed to be on the outskirts of Melbourne has raised concerns in the community.

Indian community leaders have raised serious concerns about the shotgun incident and warned it risks promoting a dangerous gun culture in the Sikh community in Australia.

“There would be a lot of people who would disagree with this video as it shows the bad gun culture we left behind in India, where many people have died from this type of shooting,” one

leader said.

“It’s a status symbol where people shoot guns in the air. But these types of backyard operations are putting people at risk and sends the wrong message. It is clearly an image to show them being the men of the community.”

There are a number of expensive SUVs including a Mercedes AMG 63, which can sell for $400,000, a Range Rover and some utes parked at the property, which is believed to be in the outer northern suburbs.

Indian-Australian businessman Rajbir Bain has confirmed he posted the video to his Facebook account and it was filmed at his property. He said everything about the get together was legal. He declined to comment further.

One of the men in the video — but not shown holding a shotgun — can be identified as prominent Indian-Australian figure Arshdeep Khakh who runs a smash repair business and a car insurance company with his brother Lovedeep Khakh, who is also a member of the Victorian ALP.

Arshdeep Khakh poses with a golden replica AK-47

Mr Khakh told The Australian to speak with the “people firing the shot guns, not me” and declined to comment further.

The Khakh brothers are also among the biggest promoters of the ancient Indian sport of kabaddi — a sport based on wrestling that doesn’t involve a ball — and are running a major tournament in Shepparton over the weekend.

The event has brought out a number of Indian kabaddi players from India to compete in the competition which is being promoted as the “3rd Australian Kabaddi, soccer & volleyball world cup”. It’s being held on Saturday at the Shepparton show grounds. The Australian has been told that a number of the touring kabaddi competitors were filmed in the shotgun video taken on the rural property.

Victoria Police said without a specific location and time of the shotgun firing it was not able to investigate the incident.