A US-led investigation into three India-based transnational crime syndicates threw up interesting insights on their reach, spread and impunity. The probe culminated in indictments against 37 individuals by the US Department of Justice (DoJ). The indictments allude to a few big hit jobs, the most sensational of which was the murder of Khalistani radical Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada three years ago, which subsequently snowballed into a massive bilateral diplomatic meltdown with India. Some of the other dramatic cases were the murder of popular rapper Sidhu Moosewala in Punjab, multiple shootings at the residence of actor Salman Khan to terrorise him, and threats to Punjabi actor and singer Gippy Grewal.
In 2023, the then Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau blamed Indian government agents for the murder of Nijjar when he had a one-on-one with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi during the G20 summit. He cited US intelligence inputs to make the accusation without any hard evidence. India categorically rejected the allegations, calling them absurd. In his pushback, Modi reiterated his demand for Canada to take action against Khalistani separatists on its soil. A bilateral diplomatic chill followed with retaliatory expulsion of diplomats on both sides. The relationship thawed only after Trudeau vacated his high office. Canada meanwhile arrested a few suspects in the Nijjar case; their trial is still awaited.
The US got its intelligence tip from the wiretap of a rogue R&AW officer bragging about bumping off Nijjar to an undercover law enforcement agent in America, whom he hired to assassinate another Khalistani radical Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. While the rogue officer is under Indian custody, his associate was extradited to the US.
Not content with the wiretap, the US followed the evidence trail in its years-long probe along with Canadian, British, European and Asian law enforcement agencies to determine that transnational gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and his former aide Goldy Brar ordered the killing of Nijjar, referred to as ‘HSN’ in court documents. Indian agencies are also believed to have fully cooperated with US investigators in what was called Operation Hard Ball. Interestingly, the multi-continent probe found no evidence linking Indian government officials to Nijjar’s murder, revealed Lisa Moreland, Deputy Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. She, however, was silent on the progress of the Nijjar case trial in Canada.
When did Nijjar emigrate to Canada?
A self-styled Khalistan ideologue, Nijjar hailed from Bharsingh Pura village in Phillaur area of Jalandhar. While he left for Canada in 1997, whether or not he had valid travel papers is still a grey area. India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) declared him a “wanted terrorist” in at least four cases, including a conspiracy to kill a Hindu priest in Phillaur in 2021. Nijjar first joined the Babbar Khalsa International headed by Jagtar Singh Tara before forming his own outfit, the Khalistan Tiger Force. As per Punjab Police officials, he was actively involved in spotting, networking, training and financing Khalistani modules in India and was booked in more than 10 cases in the country. He was also associated with the banned Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) floated by Pannun.
What is the RICO Act?
Of the 37 alleged gangsters indicted by the DOJ, 24 of them have been arrested so far in the US, Canada, Europe and Asia. All the accused have been booked under the tough Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act on various charges, including murder, extortion and drug trafficking, the maximum punishment for which could be life imprisonment. It is for the first time that the US has invoked the RICO Act against India-based criminal syndicates.
It is important to note that an indictment is merely an allegation. All accused are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Who are the other ganglords named in the probe?
Apart from Bishnoi (33) and Brar (32), the indictment names their associates Rohit Godara (37) and Sukhraj Singh Kang (58), apart from Jaggu Bhagwanpuria (38) and Ravinder Singh Dhanda (57) as the other big ganglords. While Bishnoi is lodged in the high security Sabarmati Central Jail at Ahmedabad in Gujarat in solitary confinement under 24/7 CCTV surveillance, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Goldy Brar.
Going by the DoJ’s charges, Bishnoi is coordinating his gang’s horizontal and vertical expansion into new countries from his jail cell using smuggled phones and voice-over-internet-protocol devices.
Has the US sought Bishnoi’s extradition?
Though the DoJ has not explicitly called for it, US authorities said they want both Bishnoi and Bhagwanpuria brought to America to curtail their activities. Canadian authorities separately indicated that they expect Washington to pursue Bishnoi’s extradition. The extradition process, however, is time consuming. It starts with a formal request, followed by an internal review and a judicial ruling. The India-US extradition treaty came into force in 1999. It was last invoked in 2025, when the US extradited Canadian businessman of Pakistani origin Tahawwur Hussain Rana to India to stand trial over his role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
What is Canada’s position on Khalistani separatism?
Its position is nuanced. With the change in political leadership, Canada’s top intelligence agency has declared Khalistani extremists as national security threat, warning that a small but active network continues to use the country as a base to fund and support violence. The assessment, published in the Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s 2025 public report, lays out concerns over fundraising, influence networks and links to extremist activity tied primarily to India. The report, however, says advocacy for a separate Khalistan is lawful in Canada, drawing a red line between peaceful political activity and violent extremism.
Is Bishnoi operating from prison?
It's difficult to give a straight answer. The question is who is using whom and for what. His associates — at least 700 of them, with 300 from Punjab alone, call him the 'Don'. In public, Bishnoi projects himself as a patriot, nationalist, and deeply religious individual. In private, he presides over a sweeping criminal enterprise that spans multiple continents, the DoJ said. The Canadian government in September 2025 designated the Bishnoi enterprise as a terrorist entity.
He faces at least 84 cases in Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Mumbai and elsewhere, including high-profile murders of Sidhu Moosewala in 2022 and that of Maharashtra lawmaker Baba Siddique in Bandra in October 2024.
Born in 1993, Lawrence Bishnoi was named by his parents after British officer Henry Montgomery Lawrence, founder of the prestigious Lawrence School in the hill town of Sanawar in Himachal Pradesh. In college, he met Vicky Middukhera, a student leader who formed alliances with gangsters and later joined politics at a sports event. Middukhera persuaded Bishnoi to join the SOPU (Student Organisation of Panjab University). In 2010, Bishnoi got into the police records with the first FIR against him in connection with a brawl with Middukhera’s rival student leaders. He was later lodged in Burail Jail, where he came in contact with arms smuggler Ranjit Duplan and gangster Rocky Fazilka. It culminated in his setting up what is now perhaps the country’s biggest crime syndicate. While his then lieutenant Goldy Brar ran the North American chapter of the Bishnoi enterprise, Rohit Godara handled Europe for the don and Sukhraj Singh Kang operated in India. Godara has been named in more than 35 criminal cases, including murder and extortion.
Why did Brar float his own gang?
Born Satwinderjit Singh in Punjab’s Muktsar, Brar emigrated to Canada on a student visa and served as Bishnoi’s lieutenant from 2017. Their friendship, however, ended last year after Brar and his aide Sachin Godara allegedly botched up a legal case involving Bishnoi’s younger brother, Anmol. Anmol was detained by US immigration officials in November 2024 for using forged travel documents. Bishnoi had asked Brar and Godara to help Anmol secure the bail bond but they failed and Anmol was deported to India last year. Anmol was already wanted by the police back home as he was seen as the mastermind in the assassination of NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique in 2024. Bishnoi suspected that Brar and Godara deliberately leaked a video clip featuring Anmol shaking a leg at a wedding in the US where a noted Punjabi singer was performing. Following the wedge in the relationship, Brar aligned himself with Azerbaijan-based gangster Rohit Godara.What do we know about
Jaggu Bhagwanpuria?
Jaggu Bhagwanpuria a.k.a. Jasdeep Singh has the sobriquet of ‘supari king’. He is one of the key conspirators in the killing of Sidhu Moosewala and has more than 128 cases registered against him in Punjab and other states, including high-profile murder cases, extortion, Arms Act and 12 cases under the NDPS Act. He is considered the most dreaded gangster of Punjab after Bishnoi and has more than five cases under UAPA against him for hatching conspiracies to disturb communal harmony in Punjab. As per police records, he began his career as a petty chain snatcher before entering the world of organised crime in 2011. Jaggu was a very active kabaddi player in Gurdaspur, Amritsar and Taran Tarn. According to sources, Jaggu and his kabaddi friends indulged in dacoity, robberies and extortion locally. During his first stint in prison, he came in contact with gangsters such as Sukha Kahlon and Bishnoi. After his release, Jaggu helped Bishnoi’s and Sukha’s gangs expand their footprint before establishing an independent syndicate.
The DoJ says he now runs a transnational criminal syndicate that has more than 1,000 members and associates worldwide.
Bhagwanpuria has been in Assam’s Silchar jail since March 2025. Yet, he allegedly continues to operate his networks through mobile phones and encrypted communication, with links traced to operatives in Pakistan, Canada and the US. Bhagwanpuria and Bishnoi turned rivals after a violent gang clash in Tarn Taran jail in February 2023.
What's in the probe for India?
India is bound to see it as a win-win development. It always wanted multilateral support to take on violent extremists, ideologically driven or otherwise, to protect the diaspora. The US-led initiative worked in that direction. The present clean chit in the Nijjar case is also a plus. As to how two major gangsters are managing to run their global syndicate from different Indian jails, the government alone has answers.