The Nijjar Case Just Entered A New Phase
U.S. prosecutors have charged Lawrence Bishnoi, an imprisoned Indian gang leader, and Satinderjeet Singh, known as Goldy Brar, with directing the 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia. Nijjar, a Canadian citizen and Sikh separatist leader, was shot outside a Sikh temple on June 18, 2023. The new indictment says Bishnoi ordered the killing from inside an Indian jail cell using smuggled phones and allegedly gave a co-conspirator Nijjar’s photo and multiple addresses.
The Indian Jail Allegation
That prison detail is what makes the case so striking. According to the Justice Department, Bishnoi allegedly used contraband phones, VoIP technology, and encrypted apps smuggled into his cell to direct political assassinations, murders, shootings, extortion, kidnappings, drug trafficking, and human smuggling across borders. Goldy Brar is named as the enterprise’s North American leader, while a third lieutenant, Rohit Godara, is accused of managing operations in Europe. Canada officially designated the Bishnoi enterprise a terrorist entity in September 2025, months before this indictment was unsealed.
Canada Said One Thing. The U.S. Indictment Says Another
The killing originally became a diplomatic crisis because then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canadian authorities were pursuing “credible allegations” linking Indian government agents to Nijjar’s murder. India denied the allegation. But this new U.S. indictment does not allege any Indian government role in the killing, and CNN reported that no official at the Los Angeles press conference accused India’s government of involvement or awareness.
Why The State Question Has Not Disappeared
That does not mean the wider state-linked suspicion is closed. Canada’s separate case continues, and Canadian police previously charged four Indian nationals while probing possible ties to the Indian government. A recently released RCMP briefing, obtained through Canada’s access-to-information law and reported by The Globe and Mail, shows the Mounties suspected the Indian government was involved in the murders of at least two Sikh separatist activists in Canada, and that India allegedly plotted to kill three more. The related U.S. case involving Gurpatwant Singh Pannun keeps the issue alive too: the Justice Department says Nikhil Gupta pleaded guilty in a foiled plot to kill a U.S.-based Sikh separatist leader, allegedly at the direction of Vikash Yadav, who was at relevant times an Indian government employee and remains at large.
A Wider Crackdown On India-Based Crime Networks
The Nijjar charge is part of a much larger operation, named Operation Hard Ball by the DOJ, FBI, RCMP, and European agencies. Three indictments now charge 37 defendants tied to three India-based organized crime networks, with 24 arrested or already in custody. Investigators executed more than 50 search warrants across California, Indiana, Georgia, Canada, and Spain, seizing roughly 1,000 kilograms of cocaine, one kilogram of heroin, a dozen firearms, and $40,000 in cash. Separately, the Bishnoi enterprise is accused of stealing 520 kilograms of cocaine from rival trafficking groups in the Los Angeles area between 2024 and 2025.
From A Gurdwara In Surrey To A Film Set In Mumbai
The same indictment also details a very different kind of target. Prosecutors allege that between 2022 and 2026, Bishnoi repeatedly announced his intent to kill Bollywood actor Salman Khan, a grudge tied to a 1998 blackbuck poaching case, and separately claimed public responsibility for the 2022 murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala. Prosecutors say the threats against Khan and the public claim over Moosewala’s killing served the same purpose as the extortion campaign: building a reputation violent enough to make future victims pay without a fight. The FBI has offered a $50,000 reward for Goldy Brar’s capture, describing him as “armed, dangerous, and an escape risk.”
The Fear Inside The Diaspora
For Sikh communities in Canada and beyond, this is not only a courtroom story. At the press conference announcing the charges, Sikh activist Moninder Singh said the crackdown was a win for public safety, but that the extent of the Indian government’s involvement with transnational criminal proxies “shouldn’t be understated.” He described the feeling among activists like him plainly: “We’re looking at India almost, I would say, as a 100-head demon at the end of the day, and Bishnoi is just one of those heads.” Court filings show the network’s targets stretched from a Vancouver actor to a Brampton businessman to a trucking company owner in Britain, using the same extortion playbook wherever a target had money and something to lose.
The Bigger Question
The U.S. case gives prosecutors a criminal-gang framework for Nijjar’s killing. Canada’s earlier allegation, and the RCMP’s own internal suspicions, give the story its political shadow. The Pannun case, and now the Salman Khan and Sidhu Moosewala allegations, show how far the same network’s reach extends beyond any one border or any one kind of target. So the question is no longer only who pulled the trigger in Surrey. It is whether organized crime, diaspora intimidation, and political targeting are becoming harder to separate.
For Sikh diaspora communities, the legal distinction matters. But the fear feels the same: a man was killed outside a gurdwara in Canada, and the alleged order now traces back to an Indian prison.
By Verity Quill
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