On a cool autumn evening in Surrey, British Columbia, 19-year-old Balraj Singh Rattu borrowed his father’s silver Hyundai Stellar to visit some friends. It was Monday, November 6, 1995, just six weeks before his 20th birthday. His family, who lived near Bear Creek Park, never saw him again. Remembered by his father, Gurmukh Rattu, as a strong, gentle, and responsible young man, Balraj was a graduate of Frank Hurt Secondary School and the Invergarry work-and-learn program. He and his father were close, like friends, and Balraj had recently started working part-time on weekends as a taxi driver for Royal City Taxi, the same company his father drove for. His parents, Gurmukh and Vijay, were adamant that their son was not involved with drugs or gangs, and his disappearance was a complete shock.
The last confirmed sighting of Balraj, who was known as Raj, was around 7 p.m. that evening.
A fellow taxi driver saw him sitting in a car near an Indian grocery store at 138th Street and 72nd Avenue in Newton, drinking a beer with another young man. When Balraj didn't return home, his family grew increasingly worried. Their concern turned to fear in the early hours of the second day he was missing, when the first of two mysterious phone calls came. At 1:06 a.m., a young woman called the family home. Gurmukh answered, and his voice was so similar to his son's that the caller mistook him for Balraj. "Raj, Raj, you were beaten up, eh," she said, then laughed and hung up the phone.
Exactly 24 hours later, at 1:06 a.m. on the third morning of his disappearance, a second call came. This time, the voice was that of an older-sounding woman. Speaking in Punjabi, she delivered a chilling message, telling the family that their son was dead before hanging up. Gurmukh was convinced the two callers were different people. Police attempts to trace the calls in 1995 were unsuccessful due to the technological limitations of the era, and the identities of the two female callers remain a mystery.
Three days after Balraj vanished, the family's car was found about an hour's drive away in Chilliwack. The silver Hyundai Stellar had been driven off a dike near the Vedder Canal and set on fire. Inside the burned-out vehicle, investigators made a grim discovery. Rolled up on the front passenger floor were Balraj's jacket, undershirt, grey sweatshirt, and jeans. His shirt was partially burned, and on the right collarbone area of the sweatshirt was a spot of blood. A DNA test later confirmed the blood belonged to Balraj Singh Rattu. His body, however, has never been found.
The investigation into Balraj's disappearance is considered a suspected homicide and is managed by the Unsolved Homicides Unit. For years, the Surrey detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) handled the file. In 2014, Cpl. Bert Paquet of the Surrey RCMP acknowledged that tips had dried up but urged anyone with information, no matter how insignificant it might have seemed at the time, to come forward. He noted that police had no indication Balraj was involved in gangs or the drug trade. Balraj's father, Gurmukh, regularly visited the RCMP station over the years, hoping to "wake them up" and find answers. "It's hard for me to go through this life," he said in an interview years after his son vanished.
The pain of not knowing has been a heavy burden for Balraj's family. His mother, Vijay, found it difficult to even speak about her son, especially around his birthday, saying, "It brings pain." Gurmukh shared the profound sense of loss, stating that he and his son were not just father and son, but friends who shared a similar voice and appearance. He expressed his deep desire to see the case solved in his lifetime. No arrests have ever been made in connection with the case.
As of October 2024, the homicide of Balraj Singh Rattu remains unsolved and his body has not been recovered. His case was among 56 cold case homicide files scheduled to be transferred from the Surrey RCMP to the newly formed Surrey Police Service. Investigators believe the mysterious callers may hold crucial information and have publicly appealed for them to come forward. Anyone with information about the disappearance and murder of Balraj Singh Rattu is asked to call the Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502.
