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An India-born cab driver sentenced to 20 years behind bars for kidnapping and raping a woman at knifepoint in 2011 has had his citizenship revoked, the Justice Department said Monday.
Gurmeet Singh, now 55, was convicted in 2014 of the violent sexual assault of his young female passenger, who fell asleep as he drove her from Williamsburg to her East Village apartment in May 2011, weeks before he filed his naturalization application.
According to a victim impact statement read by prosecutors at Singh’s sentencing, the woman woke up to find the cabbie on top of her and holding a knife against her throat, asking her if she wanted to live.
Singh threatened the victim, bound and gagged her, blindfolded her, removed her clothes and raped her, after which she fled his taxi on foot and flagged down passerby for help.
The Justice Department said Singh “concealed these acts” throughout his naturalization proceedings, becoming a US citizen on Oct. 19, 2011.
“Singh unlawfully obtained the privileges of U.S. citizenship by concealing horrible criminal acts,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.
“The Department will continue to protect the integrity of the citizenship process and hold accountable those who defraud our immigration system.”
Singh initially entered the US in February 1992 as a temporary visitor on a six-month visa. He stayed in the country without authorization for years until a visa petition by his family allowed him to become a permanent resident in June 2000.
He is currently incarcerated at Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Ulster County, which also houses “Son of Sam” killer David Berkowitz.
An order issued last week by Brooklyn federal judge Nicholas Garaufis gives Singh until Sept. 16 to hand over his citizenship documents, including his naturalization certificate and US passport.
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