Vancouver transit police say suspect charged in SkyTrain sex assaults

A women pays for a fare inside of the Burrard SkyTrain Station in Vancouver on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

A 55-year-old man from Surrey, B.C., has been charged following a string of reported sexual assaults on Vancouver’s SkyTrain system last year.

The B.C. Prosecution Service says Rajinder Singh Chahal was charged on March 14 with three counts of sexual assault in connection with the incidents.

Chahal was released from custody under strict conditions pending his next court appearance, the Metro Vancouver Transit Police said in a statement Tuesday. Those conditions include restrictions on his access to transit, police said.

The first assault was reported on Jan. 24 of last year, when a woman told police that a man made inappropriate physical contact with her while on a crowded Canada Line train.

The second incident was reported the following April, when a witness reported seeing a man “standing suspiciously close to an unidentified teenage passenger” on a Canada Line train, according to the statement from the transit police.

“When the man allegedly leaned into the girl inappropriately, the witness called police,” the statement said.

Then in May, a woman felt a man “pressing into her numerous times” while she was standing on a crowded Expo Line train. The woman confronted the man, who fled the train at the next stop, police said.

Investigators eventually linked all three incidents to the same suspect, the statement said.

“Reducing sexual offenses is a transit police operational priority,” Sgt. Dustin Szakacs said in the statement.

“Since the impact of these reprehensible acts can be devastating and have a lifelong impact on those who experience them, our officers will work on a file as long as is necessary to ensure that anyone who would commit these kinds of crimes on the transit system is caught and held accountable.”

The suspect is scheduled to appear in court in Vancouver on April 30.