The US has charged Lawrence Bishnoi, a gangster imprisoned in India, and his aide Satinderjeet Singh alias Goldy Brar for ordering the assassination of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada in November 2023.
According to a federal indictment unsealed in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Bishnoi ordered the killing of Nijjar, mentioned as 'H.S.N.' in court documents, outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18 three years ago.
In a coordinated action named 'Operation Hardball,' the law enforcement agencies of the US, Canada and Europe arrested 24 persons – 11 of them in California – connected to three India-based transnational organised crime groups charged with a litany of criminal acts, including Nijjar's assassination .
"Working together, law enforcement in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia are determined to target and dismantle these criminal organizations wherever they operate. There is no safe harbor for these thugs," First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli told a news conference in Los Angeles.
The indictment says Bishnoi directed the operation from an Indian jail cell using smuggled cellphones and provided a co-conspirator with a photograph and multiple addresses of Nijjar's to facilitate the killing. Singh, a childhood friend of Bishnoi, allegedly directed the North American operations of the criminal group, known as the "Lawrence Bishnoi Organized Crime Group," reported Reuters.
The killing of Nijjar soured bilateral relations between India and Canada as then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sought to link the government in New Delhi to the murder. India rejected the claims as "absurd and motivated."
The current action is the result of a years-long federal investigation into Indian crime syndicates that engage in racketeering, targeted killings, shootings, extortion, the trafficking of bulk quantities of narcotics across international borders, and other crimes around the world whose impact is especially felt in the Indian diaspora.
Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, had campaigned for the creation of Khalistan, an independent Sikh homeland carved out of India, and had been designated a terrorist by New Delhi.
Neither First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli nor any other official at a press conference in Los Angeles alleged that the Indian government was involved in or aware of the killing.
In total, 37 defendants – including two defendants who ran their global criminal syndicates while imprisoned in India – were charged across three indictments unsealed on Tuesday.
Those arrested in the United States – besides the 11 in California, one was nabbed in Indiana, and one in Georgia – are expected to make their initial appearances today in federal court.
Three defendants were arrested in Canada, one defendant was arrested in Spain, and seven defendants already were in custody.
The agencies are looking for 10 fugitives – seven in the United States, two in India, and one in Europe.
Bishnoi is already in jail in India, while his aide Goldy Brar is still at large.
"Today’s (Tuesday’s) coordinated operation strikes at the heart of three brutal transnational organizations that have terrorised families, exploited communities, and stolen lives through ruthless acts of violence in the US and abroad," said Patrick Grandy, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Mike Duheme said the agencies disrupted the operations of "organized criminals who used murder, cruelty and fear to extort and control people in both Canada and the United States.
"We won't pause for long to reflect on the work it took to get this job done – we'll keep doing what we do best to preserve public safety in Canada, in the United States, and around the world," Duheme said.
Relations between Ottawa and New Delhi have thawed under Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who visited India in February on his first official trip and opened talks on a trade deal expected to be completed by November.
His approach has drawn criticism from some Sikh groups, who accuse Ottawa of failing to hold India accountable or safeguard Sikh Canadians from foreign interference and transnational repression.