US charges Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldy Brar for Nijjar killing, 24 arrested in three countries

The authorities in the United States on Tuesday charged gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar for organised crimes and ordering the 2023 killing of Khalistani separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada.

The charges against Bishnoi and Brar were part of a wider action against India-based gangs.

On Tuesday, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said that law enforcement agencies in the US, Canada and Europe had arrested 24 persons linked to three India-based transnational organised crime groups. Eleven of them were arrested in California, and one each in Indiana and Georgia.

A federal indictment unsealed in Los Angeles alleged that Bishnoi ordered the killing of Nijjar, mentioned as “H.S.N.” in the court documents, outside a gurdwara Canada’s Surrey in June 2023.

Nijjar was killed by masked gunmen. His killing had led to a deterioration in the relations between New Delhi and Ottawa after Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister at the time, told Parliament that intelligence agencies were examining “credible allegations” linking Indian government agents to the murder. India has rejected the allegations.

Nijjar was an advocate for Khalistan, an independent Sikh nation sought by some groups. He was the head of the Khalistan Tiger Force, which is a designated terrorist outfit in India.

Apart from those...

Read more