US Indictment Accuses Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldy Brar in Nijjar Killing

Jailed Gangster Ran Extortion, Murder Syndicate from Indian Prison

Washington (IANS): US federal prosecutors have alleged that jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and his North American proxy, Satinderjeet Singh (alias Goldy Brar), ordered the June 18, 2023, assassination of a Khalistani terrorist in Surrey, British Columbia.

While US court documents identify the victim only as “H.S.N.”, the details perfectly match the high-profile daylight gunning down of Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a gurdwara in Canada.

The revelation comes from a newly unsealed federal racketeering indictment under ‘Operation Hard Ball’—a massive multinational crackdown targeting three India-based transnational organized crime groups. The operation has already charged 37 individuals and arrested 24 suspects across the US, Canada, and Europe.

Running a Global Terror Network from an Indian Jail

The US Justice Department alleges that Bishnoi masterminded the assassination and a sprawling international criminal enterprise straight from his Indian prison cell.

According to prosecutors, Bishnoi used smuggled contraband cell phones and voice-over-IP (VoIP) devices to coordinate political assassinations, murders, drug trafficking, and human smuggling across the globe.

The syndicate began as a simple Punjab student network in the early 2010s before Bishnoi traded campus politics for organized crime. Despite his arrest by Indian authorities in 2015, Bishnoi expanded his empire into the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia, commanding thousands of global operatives.

Extreme Violence Targeting the Indian Diaspora

First Assistant US Attorney Bilal A. Essayli announced the charges in Los Angeles, stating that these syndicates intentionally unleashed a “climate of fear” to extort wealthy individuals.

“These criminal organisations have engaged in widespread violence, including targeted killings, extortions, and kidnappings,” Essayli said. “They preyed in particular on communities in the United States and Canada with ties to India.”

The indictment notes that the gang deliberately targeted prominent cultural, political, and business leaders to maximize publicity, using the shock value to enforce future multi-million dollar extortion schemes.

Salman Khan, Sidhu Moose Wala, and Gippy Grewal Named

Beyond the Nijjar assassination, the US indictment links the Bishnoi gang to several other sensational crimes targeting public figures:

• Threats to ‘S.K.’ (Salman Khan): Between 2022 and 2026, Bishnoi publicly declared his intention to kill a well-known Indian actor and television personality (“S.K.”) to amplify the gang’s reputation.
• The Murder of ‘S.S.S.’ (Sidhu Moose Wala): The gang formally claimed responsibility for the brutal 2022 killing of a prominent Indian singer and rapper (“S.S.S.”).
• The ‘R.G.’ (Gippy Grewal) Extortion: Operatives executed a shooting at the Vancouver residence of a prominent Indian actor and singer (“R.G.”) before attempting to extort him.

The Syndicate’s Recruitment Blueprint

To sustain its front lines, the indictment reveals that the Bishnoi group preyed on vulnerable, impoverished minors in Punjab, luring them with promises of money, protection, and social media notoriety. The gang then trafficked loyal members into the US and Canada using fraudulent student and foreign worker visas.

To protect the top leadership, the gang maintained a strictly decentralized structure where low-level shooters knew nothing about other cells. Members who attempted to leave or cooperate with law enforcement faced brutal violent retaliation against themselves or their relatives back home in India.

The unsealed files also expose a rival syndicate led by Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, which allegedly extorted the diaspora by conspiring with corrupt law enforcement officials in India to slap victims with false criminal cases until they paid hefty bribes.