A 17-year-old Indo-Canadian Sikh from Richmond, Vancouver, who claimed five "unknown white men" cut his hair off, has now apologised for cooking up the allegations.

He admitted to police and later to his family that he had staged the incident.

"I am really sorry for everything that has happened. I did not realise that it would become an issue on such a large scale. My sincere apologies to my family, friends, the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mountain Police) and overall community - whose feelings I have hurt in this whole ordeal. I have to work very hard to rebuild the trust I lost.

"Although I made the biggest mistake of my life but my family and the RCMP have been very supportive. I am starting to see that there is still a lot to learn. Once again, my apologies to everyone," he said through a statement, which the police distributed.

He also told police during an interview that he injured himself to lend credibility to his story of five men punching and robbing him.

Several members of the Sikh community have turned the anger they initially harboured against the alleged attackers toward the teenager for cooking up such a story, creating communal tension in Lower Mainland.

"I believe that he should have been charged for fabricating the story. I spoke to many in our community and they are also in favour of it," Joginder Singh Sidhu, president of the Canadian Singh Sabha in Vancouver told IANS.

According to him, this might set a bad example for others who might engage in such hoaxes, hoping to get away scot-free. He also believed there was scope for hate crimes to be overlooked in future due to such incidents.

"Many in our community are angry over this fabrication...he is not a child anymore...why did he put the blame on the white people?" Sidhu wondered aloud. He acknowledged that Sikh children faced peer pressure, though a lot of them retained their hair for the sake of religious beliefs.

"He should have gone to his parents instead of lying like this."

Some of the community members also believe that the family should reimburse the expense the RCMP incurred from investigation into the allegations.