Avin Seetaram {BSO}
A federal jury in Miami convicted a Margate man of participating in a murder-for-hire plot that killed Suren Seetal in November 2023, while his Coral Springs co-conspirator was sentenced to life in federal prison.
Avin Seetaram, 27, also known as “Smalls,” conspired with Somjeet Christopher Singh, 32, also known as “Lil Chris,” to have Seetal killed over business dealings, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
Court records and evidence presented at trial showed the men first targeted Seetal in July 2023. They tracked his whereabouts using an electronic device placed in the vehicle he was using, then sent a gunman and a driver to kill him.
The gunman opened fire, and Seetal returned fire. No one was struck, and the gunman and driver fled, prosecutors said.
After the failed attempt, Seetaram and Singh arranged another plot. On Nov. 2, 2023, they lured Seetal to a business location where a newly hired gunman ambushed and fatally shot him.
The men then paid the gunman and coordinated efforts to conceal the crime, including transporting and disposing of Seetal’s body in the Everglades, according to prosecutors.
“This was not a spontaneous act of violence. It was a deliberate, persistent, and cold-blooded murder-for-hire scheme,” U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones said.
“One conspirator is already serving life in federal prison, and a jury has now convicted Seetaram for his role in this brutal crime,” he said.
The jury found Seetaram guilty of murder-for-hire conspiracy, murder for hire, stalking resulting in death, discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, conspiracy to use and carry a firearm during a crime of violence, and causing a person’s death through the use of a firearm during a crime of violence.
Seetaram faces up to 20 years in prison on the firearm conspiracy count and up to life on the remaining counts, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. A federal judge will determine his sentence after considering federal sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
Singh previously pleaded guilty to eight counts, including murder-for-hire conspiracy, murder for hire, kidnapping conspiracy, kidnapping, stalking resulting in death, firearm conspiracy, causing a person’s death through the use of a firearm during a crime of violence, and obstruction of justice.
U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman sentenced Singh to concurrent life terms on six counts, 140 months on the firearm conspiracy count and 120 months on the obstruction count.
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