2 detained men are suspected in the deaths of a migrant family at the Canada-US border.

Charges have been filed in Minnesota against two men in connection with the deaths of an Indian migrant family at the Canada-U.S. border two years ago. Steve Shand, of Florida, and Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, an Indian-origin man living in Florida, have been named as part of a new indictment filed regarding the incident, according to court documents.

On January 19, 2022, Shand was arrested along with two migrants in a rented van on a snowy highway in Minnesota, near the Canadian border. Later in the day, the frozen bodies of 39-year-old Jagdish Patel, his 37-year-old wife Vaishali, 11-year-old daughter Vihanga and three-year-old son Dharmik were found just 12 meters from the Canadian border. They died of hypothermia after being abandoned at the border during a snowstorm and temperatures of around -35°C.

Harshkumar Patel became an accused in seven counts, including conspiracy to transport persons, causing serious bodily injury and endangering lives, facilitating the transportation of persons, transportation of persons causing serious bodily injury and endangering lives, and transportation of persons for commercial gain. Shand was also charged with four of these counts. The charge includes that Shand picked up migrants and transported them to the U.S. at Patel's direction.

According to investigators, Patel hired and paid Shand to pick up and transport the migrants after they crossed the border. He was apprehended at O'Hare Airport in Chicago and transported to Minnesota, where he is in custody.

The defendants are linked to traveling across the border in America and Canada. Court documents contain a story that Patel ran a gambling establishment in Florida and they communicated via the WhatsApp app about car rentals, hotels and payments to Shandu. U.S. authorities say Patel provided Shand with coordinates for a meeting near the border and two phone numbers of contacts in Canada. Shand told investigators that he "earned a total of approximately $25,000 USD" working for Patel.

For the January 2022 incident, Shand received $2,900 cash up front from Patel and another $5,000 cash upon his release from jail, according to court records. Shand is out on bail while Patel is incarcerated. Attorneys for Patel and Shand did not respond to a request for comment before this article was published.

So far in North America, only these two have been arrested in connection with the deaths of the Patel family. Three people have been detained in India, but no one from Canada has been charged so far. Shanda's trial is expected to be scheduled at a later date as it has been repeatedly postponed.