Bishnoi gang leader charged in connection with slaying of Nijjar

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The leader of the India-based Bishnoi gang and his alleged North American lieutenant face criminal charges from U.S. prosecutors in connection with the 2023 slaying of Canadian Sikh separatist activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

An indictment filed in U.S. court July 1 and unsealed Tuesday alleges gang leader Lawrence Bishnoi and his alleged North American deputy Satinderjeet Singh, also known as Goldy Brar, “ordered the assassination” of Mr. Nijjar on June 18, 2023, at his gurdwara in Surrey, B.C.

The indictment was part of a larger investigation revealed Tuesday in Los Angeles by U.S. authorities and the head of the RCMP in which they said a total of 37 defendants – including Mr. Bishnoi and Mr. Singh – had been charged across three unsealed indictments targeting three separate transnational gangs.

Mr. Bishnoi’s alleged role in the assassination has been reported before, but this is the first time it has been outlined in official charges.

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Mr. Nijjar is referred to as “H.S.N.” in the U.S. federal grand jury charging document, which also states Mr. Bishnoi provided four unnamed co-conspirators with a photograph of the prominent Sikh separatist and multiple addresses to help facilitate the killing.

Mr. Bishnoi and Mr. Singh, his childhood friend, who authorities say remains a fugitive in the U.S., are charged with racketeering. One of the “overt acts” prosecutors cite in connection with this is their alleged role in arranging the murder of Mr. Nijjar. Other charges include extortion – extracting money through threats of violence – as well as drug trafficking.

Mr. Bishnoi has been imprisoned in India for more than a decade. U.S. officials said they are seeking his extradition to the United States. They are also seeking extradition for several other people named in the indictments who are jailed in India.

“Some of these guys are already in jail cells in India, so obviously that’s not enough to restrain their activities,” Bill Essayli, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, said at a news conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday. “When they come to a federal penitentiary here, in the United States, I guarantee you he won’t be extorting any more victims.”

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Mr. Bishnoi, 33, built the Bishnoi gang from a student-politics network in Punjab into what prosecutors describe as a transnational criminal organization, which he has allegedly continued to direct from prison in India using smuggled phones since his 2015 arrest.

The group, designated a terrorist entity by Canada last year, has been accused of combining extortion, drug trafficking and contract violence targeting business and political figures among the Indian diaspora in Canada, the U.S. and Britain.

Mr. Nijjar, who campaigned for a separate state for Sikhs to be carved out of India, was gunned down as he drove out of the parking lot of his temple in Surrey. His assassination led to a major diplomatic rift between Canada and India after then-prime-minister Justin Trudeau accused New Delhi of a role in the killing. India denies any involvement.

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The U.S. indictment accusing Mr. Bishnoi and his associates is silent on the suggestion that agents of the Indian government were behind the killing.

A recently released RCMP briefing, obtained through the federal access-to-information law, shows that, in 2024, the Mounties suspected the Indian government was involved in the murders of at least two Sikh separatist activists in Canada. The documents also say that India plotted to kill three other Canadians after allegedly orchestrating the killing of Mr. Nijjar.

The Globe and Mail has previously reported that Canadian national-security officials were also presented with evidence that Indian consular staff operating in Vancouver supplied information to assist in Mr. Nijjar’s killing.

Jody Thomas, who served as national security adviser under Mr. Trudeau, called the indictments positive news, and said Tuesday the Bishnoi gang would have been taking its orders from someone else.

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“The connection to the government is still being investigated, I presume,” she said, adding the Indian government must be held responsible if Indian gangs are running operations from jails in that country.

“If this criminal gang was able to function from a prison, there is either government complicity or willful blindness.”

U.S. officials also allege in the indictment that Mr. Bishnoi and eight of his alleged colleagues worked across multiple continents to identify prominent or wealthy targets – often Sikh businesspeople – and direct alleged gang members to gather personal and family information on them before contacting them through encrypted messaging apps.

The indictment describes threats made against a Vancouver actor and singer; a businessman in Brampton, Ont.; an immigration consultant in Surrey, B.C.; a trucking company owner in Britain; and a California resident. Each was allegedly told to pay sums ranging from tens of thousands to several million dollars or face violence against themselves or their families.

Often, the indictment alleges, the Bishnoi group would claim responsibility for these crimes online, promoting their violence to “cultivate a widespread climate of fear” and to suggest the group “was invulnerable to or otherwise beyond the reach of law enforcement.”

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At the news conference in Los Angeles, which was attended by RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme, the FBI and local police said “Operation Hard Ball” was a multiyear federal investigation into three separate Indian crime organizations that engage in racketeering, killings, shootings, extortion, drug trafficking and other crimes across the globe.

The local U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release that 24 of the 37 suspects had been arrested, including three in Canada; seven of them were previously in custody.

Commissioner Duheme called the arrests and charges “a big moment for the RCMP and for public safety in Canada, the United States and around the world.” He called the investigation a successful case of “meeting criminals where they operate, targeting the leadership structures of these criminal groups, and ending their ability to terrorize and extort people.”

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Brenda Locke, mayor of Surrey, B.C., which has a large South Asian population, expressed gratitude for the arrests. She said Surrey “has felt like a city under siege.”

Dinesh Patnaik, India’s high commissioner to Canada, welcomed the arrests and charges, saying New Delhi had been asking for allies to crack down on transnational gangs.

“For a long time, there was a feeling in India that the countries in North America have been turning a blind eye, but the very fact that now you’re taking action and the Americans are taking action is good news.”

Asked whether India would allow Mr. Bishnoi and others to be extradited to the United States, Mr. Patnaik said Indian courts would decide once the U.S. makes formal requests.

As part of a previously known legal proceeding, American authorities are already attempting to extradite Vikash Yadav, whom the Indian government has described as a rogue intelligence officer and who has been linked to Mr. Nijjar’s killing.

This spring, Mr. Patnaik told The Globe that Mr. Yadav has now disappeared.

With reports from Greg Mercer and David Ebner