New arrest, troubles delaying investigation into 2022 Manitoba smuggling deaths revealed in warrant documents
A photo posted on Facebook in 2019 shows the Patel family: Jagdish, 39, Dharmik, 3, Vihangi, 11, and Vaishali, 37. They were found frozen to death in Manitoba, near the U.S. border, in January 2022. (Vaishali Patel/Facebook)Social SharingNewly obtained search warrant documents reveal police arrested a driver this year believed to have been involved in a human smuggling scheme that led to the deaths of a family of four in Manitoba in 2022.
The documents also provide a closer look into the years-long investigation β and shed light on some of the reasons why RCMP say it's taking so long.
It's been nearly five years since the frozen bodies of 39-year-old Jagdish Patel, his 37-year-old wife, Vaishali, and their two kids β 11-year-old Vihangi and three-year-old Dharmik β were found 12 metres from the U.S. border. They were trying to walk from Manitoba into Minnesota in January 2022 and became separated from a larger group of migrants.
In a trove of search warrant documents obtained by CBC News, RCMP said the unnamed driver arrested in February 2026 β one of the most recent updates made public in the case β is believed to have helped bring the Patels and other migrants to Winnipeg before their treacherous journey to the border.
"Investigation is ongoing to determine if they will be a witness or subject to prosecution in either Canada or the United States," an affidavit filed by an RCMP sergeant in May said.
The documents also paint a picture of why the RCMP say the investigation has progressed so slowly.
Though Canadian "person of interest" Fenil Patel β whom the documents allege was responsible for organizing the smuggling and drove the migrants to the border β was arrested last year after a U.S. extradition request, no charges in the investigation have been laid in Canada.
The RCMP affidavit from May 2026 said U.S. law enforcement told Mounties they'd gotten a sealed indictment for six charges against Patel, who is not related to the Patel family.
In the months before his arrest last year, an earlier affidavit filed by an RCMP constable said the unit responsible for border-related cases in Manitoba had been "plagued with resourcing challenges and competing priorities."
"Due to resourcing issues and deployments to the border beginning in January 2025 as a result of the recent spotlight on the international border by the new President of the USA, RCMP investigators have been unable to follow up on new developments of the Investigation," including search warrant results and information from U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, the May 2025 affidavit said.
Family called for help before freezing to death near Manitoba-U.S. border in 2022, smuggler testifies
The delays were also blamed on the relatively small border unit being responsible for newly reported human smuggling investigations that needed to be prioritized for prosecution, and on staff members not being immediately replaced after leaving the unit.
Though the documents reveal more about the case β including information about the Patel family's final days, details about Fenil Patel's alleged activities before their deaths and a 2025 reference to other potential "unidentified co-conspirators" β much of the information they contain remains redacted after a ruling from a Manitoba judge last week.
CBC News fought in court to unseal the search warrant documents, including the unredacted portions.
Provincial court Judge Tracey Lord found disclosing the redacted information "would create a serious risk to the integrity of the ongoing investigation.
"While the investigative decisions left to be made in this case are few at this stage, they are nonetheless significant in terms of how or if the case may proceed," Lord wrote.
As RCMP investigated the case, they applied for more than 40 warrants for everything from bank and phone records to information about car rentals and email accounts, the documents said.
That investigation also included details provided by people who interacted with the Patel family in their final days, including the manager of a hotel where the family stayed in Mississauga, Ont., an acquaintance they stayed with in Welland, Ont., and an Uber driver who gave them a ride in-between.
The Welland acquaintance, whom the documents said grew up with Jagdish Patel in Gujarat, India, later gave the family a ride to another Mississauga hotel, where he said he saw two men meet them outside.Β
New details revealed about days Indian family spent in Ontario before freezing to death near U.S. border
"The identity of these 2 males remains unknown," the documents said.
The documents also said the Patel family was in Canada on a visitor's visa that named a Mississauga woman as the person they were visiting. That woman later told police she didn't know the Patels or why her name was on their documents "and was concerned that her identity had been stolen," the documents said.
The other migrants who travelled with them were issued work or study permits, or both.
"Information received from [from the Canada Border Services Agency] indicated that the [visas] obtained by these Indian [nationals] were done so via fraudulent documents, such as student records and providing false visitor names," the documents said.
Police also spoke to two managers at a hotel where the Patel family stayed, who recognized a photo of Fenil Patel as a man who would book rooms for people he said were students, the documents said.
One of the managers said Patel had once mentioned to her that "he had an agency 'back home' and that was how he was bringing the students into Canada," while the other said she remembered him booking hotel rooms as far back as 2018.Β
The students would stay for anywhere between a day and over a week, paying on a day-by-day basis.
Migrants 'nothing but dollar signs' to accused human smugglers, U.S. prosecutors say in closing arguments
"When asked about who the people were, he simply stated that they were students from India who did not have a place to live and he was looking for accommodations for them," the documents said.Β
Fenil Patel remains in custody in Canada and is scheduled to appear in court next month for a disclosure application in his extradition case, court records show.
Two men convicted in the U.S. for their roles in the smuggling operation were handed lengthy prison sentences last year. Steve Shand and Harshkumar Patel, who is also not related to the Patel family, have both filed appeals.
Caitlyn Gowriluk has been writing for CBC Manitoba since 2019. Her work has also appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press, and in 2021 she was part of an award-winning team recognized by the Radio Television Digital News Association for its breaking news coverage of COVID-19 vaccines. Get in touch with her at caitlyn.gowriluk@cbc.ca.
