NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH: Satinderjeet Singh, alias Goldy Brar, as he infamously known, went from being a petty criminal in Punjab to directing transnational syndicate operations - and is now in the list of FBI's list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has announced a reward of USD 1 million for information leading to the arrest of the 31-year-old, based in the United States and the alleged leader of the Lawrence Bishnoi Organised Crime Group in North America.
Brar, who left for Canada on a student visa in 2017 and belongs to Sri Muktsar Sahib district in Punjab, was a trusted member of the Bishnoi gang. He is now believed to be part of the Brar-Rohit Godara-Kala Jatheri gang, officials said.
"Satinderjeet Singh is wanted for his alleged involvement in the Lawrence Bishnoi Organized Crime Group which is allegedly engaged in a variety of violent acts in Southern California, and across the United States and Canada," according to the FBI.
The list of crimes is long.
According to the US investigating agency, he is allegedly involved in assassinations of political and religious figures, shootings, murders, kidnappings, extortions, assaults, and the trafficking of narcotics and weapons.
Brar was among the fugitives identified following Operation Hardball, a years-long federal investigation into India-based transnational organised crime groups.
The US charged Bishnoi and Brar with ordering the assassination of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18, 2023.
While in Canada from where he began climbing the crime ladder, Brar ran extortion rackets and was also involved in contract-killing assignments and operating criminal modules back home.
Brar is named in 52 FIRs registered at different places in Punjab. These include Mohali, Muktsar, Faridkot, Moga, Amritsar and Bathinda, officials said. The Punjab government has also announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh for those providing credible information leading to his arrest.
The gangster, who already had an Interpol Red Corner Notice against him, was designated an "individual terrorist" by the Union Home Ministry in 2024 under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The gazette laid out the grounds - his involvement in smuggling high-grade arms, ammunition and explosives across the border using drones, in making extortions calls to pro-nationalist leaders, and in issuing threats aimed at disrupting communal harmony by means of sabotage and terror modules.
Brar's first mention in police files is in 2012 for minor offences in Punjab when he was just a teen. Five years later, he moved to Canada where he widened his network by establishing a close alliance with Bishnoi, who is in a Gujarat jail, and by collaborating with the banned terrorist group Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), officials said.
That's when Brar carried out acts of terrorism in India at the behest of BKI chief Wadhawa Singh, they said.
The crime graph spiralled after the murder of his cousin Gurlal Brar, who had been president of the Student Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) and was killed by the opposing Lucky Patial gang in October 2020.
In February 2021, as an act of retaliation, Brar plotted the murder of Gurlal Singh, a leader of the Youth Congress, an action which established him as a prominent figure within organised crime networks.
It was a turning point.
He was later involved in a number of high-profile targeted killings, including that of Pardeep Singh, a follower of Dera Sacha Sauda, in Kotkapura, Punjab, on November 10, 2022.
Brar is the son of a former Punjab police assistant sub-inspector who was compulsorily retired in 2021 after his alleged involvement in a murder case.
He is also alleged to be the mastermind of the assassination of popular Punjabi singer Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu alias Sidhu Moosewala. Moosewala was shot dead in Punjab's Mansa district on May 29, 2022 when he along with two others was travelling in a jeep to Jawahar Ke village.
Brar, then a member of the Bishnoi gang, said in a BBC World Service documentary in June last year he orchestrated the murder of Moosewala, claiming, we were left with no other option.
According to officials, as he got deeper into the world of crime, his alleged activities expanded to include targeted killings and weapon procurements as well.
In 2023, Brar was put on the list of 25 most wanted fugitives in Canada. He was placed 15th on the list, wanted for the murder, criminal conspiracy, supply of illegal firearms, and attempt to murder charges Brar and Bishnoi parted ways at some point over the years.
It came to light last year when Brar accused Bishnoi of getting Inderpreet Singh alias Parry killed in Chandigarh. Parry was once an associate of the Bishnoi gang, but believed to have shifted his loyalties towards Brar, officials said.
Brar was also wanted in the murder of case of Gurvinder Singh alias Lambbad, which took place in Mohali in January this year.
The US investigative agency cautions that he should be regarded as armed, dangerous, and a flight risk, on the grounds that he has been connected with the assassinations of political and religious figures as well as shootings, kidnappings, extortion and the trafficking of narcotics and weapons throughout California, the rest of the United States and Canada.