US charges Indian crime leader in Sikh activist’s assassination

US indicts Indian crime boss, links him to Sikh leader’s killing that strained India-Canada relations.

Authorities in the United States have announced charges against the leader of an Indian criminal group in connection with the political assassination of a prominent Sikh leader in Canada – a high-profile killing that plunged relations between Ottawa and New Delhi into crisis.

The charges were part of a massive law enforcement operation involving agencies across the US, Canada and Europe that swept up 37 defendants who are allegedly part of three Indian international crime syndicates tied to kidnappings, racketeering, extortion, firearms dealing, drug trafficking and murder, US Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli announced at a news conference on Tuesday.

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He spoke alongside officials with the Los Angeles Police Department, the FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Authorities are still searching for seven fugitives in the US, two in India and one in Europe.

The groups have “have fuelled violence, fear and instability within the East Indian communities throughout California and abroad”, said Patrick Grandy, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office.

Lawrence Bishnoi, 33, and his childhood friend Satinderjeet Singh are accused of orchestrating the assassination of a well-known Sikh independence activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was fatally shot outside of a temple where he served as president in 2023. The killing sparked tensions between the Canadian and Indian governments, after then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that there were “credible allegations” that the Indian government was involved in Nijjar’s death. Bishnoi is in custody, but Singh has not been apprehended.

Bishnoi’s organisation “routinely targeted prominent religious, social and political leaders with violence” in exchange for large amounts of money, prosecutors said.

Nijjar, 45 when he was killed, was a prominent member of a movement to create an independent Sikh homeland known as Khalistan, and was organising an unofficial referendum among the Sikh diaspora with the organisation Sikhs For Justice. Nijjar, who was born in India and had Canadian citizenship, was wanted by Indian authorities at the time of his death. India had offered a reward for information leading to his arrest.

Sikh diaspora activism has been a source of tension between India and Canada for years. Canada has the largest population of Sikhs outside India, and India has repeatedly accused it of tolerating “terrorists and extremists”. Both India and Canada expelled diplomats from the other country amid the international dispute.

The indictments say that some defendants leveraged relationships with corrupt local authorities in India to persecute rivals or those who were believed to be cooperating with law enforcement. At least one defendant is accused of organising criminal activities while detained at a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, authorities said Tuesday, though it is not clear how he was able to communicate without being detected.

An attorney for Bishnoi was not listed on Tuesday afternoon.

Essayli said the operation was an example of the effectiveness of international cooperation.

“Working together, law enforcement in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia are determined to target and dismantle these criminal organisations wherever they operate,” Essayli said.