US charges Indian criminal gang leader with organising murder of Canadian Sikh activist
Source: The Guardian
US charges Indian criminal gang leader with organising murder of Canadian Sikh activist
Lawrence Bishnoi, who is in prison in India, is accused of orchestrating the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023
Leyland Cecco in Toronto and agencies
Wed 8 Jul 2026 18.29 BST
First published on Wed 8 Jul 2026 04.13 BST
US and Canadian authorities say they have “dismantled” the leadership of a notorious Indian criminal group, charging dozens of operatives who have “inflicted pain and cruelty on people, victims around the globe”, including a high-profile murder in Canada that strained diplomatic relations between Canada and India.
At a Tuesday press conference, members of the FBI and Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said as part of Operation Hard Ball – a multiyear federal investigation into murder-for-hire plots, shootings, extortion and drug trafficking – they had charged 37 people, some of whom were already in custody. Authorities are still searching for seven fugitives in the US, two in India and one in Europe.
The highest profile indictment was of Lawrence Bishnoi, the imprisoned head of an Indian criminal gang, who was charged with orchestrating the assassination of a well-known Sikh campaigner from behind the bars of a Delhi prison cell.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar was fatally shot outside a temple in Canada where he served as president in 2023. Police said they had also charged his childhood friend, Satinderjeet Singh, for his role in the killing. Singh, who also goes by the name Goldy Brar, is now a fugitive in the US.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/08/murder-canada-sikh-activist-hardeep-singh-nijjar-indian-criminal-gang-leader-charged