Indian gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar “ordered the assassination” of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the president of a Surrey Sikh temple, in 2023, newly released U.S. court documents allege.
Nijjar, 45, was shot to death on June 18, 2023, in the parking lot of Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, in the 7000-block of Scott Road in Newton. He was found in his truck.
Nijjar was an ardent supporter of the Khalistani movement, which seeks to secure an independent Sikh nation in India, and his supporters maintain India’s government was involved in his killing.
In May 2024, Amandeep Singh, Karan Brar, Kamalpreet Singh, and Karanpreet Singh were charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. This case is still making its way through the B.C. Supreme Court.
The indictment only identifies the victim as H.S.N, but states he was killed outside the Guru Nanah Sikh Gurdwarah in Surrey on June 18, 2023.
A February 2026 grand jury indictment in the U.S. states that Bishnoi, Brar (also known as Satinder Singh), Rohit Godaara and six others are charged with one count of racketeering conspiracy, one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by extortion (Hobbs Act), six counts of attempted Hobbs Act extortion, and one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, namely cocaine and methamphetamine.
The Bishnoi Gang is a transnational criminal organization that operates out of India but is known to have a presence in Canada, stated a post on publicsafety.gc.ca. In September 2025, the Government of Canada listed the Bishnoi Gang as a terrorist entity.
The gang is known to “have a presence in Canada and are active in areas with significant diaspora communities. The Bishnoi Gang engages in murder, shootings and arson, and generates terror through extortion and intimidation,” noted a September 2025 press release from Public Safety Canada.
The founder of the group, Lawrence Bishnoi, has been in prison in India for over a decade but is allegedly known to still order kidnappings, political assassinations, murders, shootings and extortions from his jail cell.
“To help manage the day-to-day operations of the Bishnoi organized crime group, Bishnoi delegated control ot trusted lieutenants and regional leaders of the enterprise,” reads the indictment.
Bishnoi made Goldy Brar, his childhood friend, the head of North American operations; Rohit Godara, 37, of Rajasthan, India, the European leader of the Bishnoi enterprise; and Sukhraj Singh Kang, 58, of Punjab, India.
A press release from the U.S. Department of Justice states that, “This criminal gang engaged in violent activity in each country in which it operated, including the United States, and used violence to cultivate a climate of fear, in particular in India and among Indian diaspora communities worldwide. The gang exploited this fear to extort its victims, hyping their violence and criminality through online videos and internet posts.”
The indictment claims that from March 2024 to July 2025, the Bishnoi gang stole from rival drug trafficking gangs over 1,146 pounds of cocaine in the Los Angeles area.
The charges stem from a U.S. federal investigation, called “Operation Hard Ball,” into Indian crime syndicates. U.S. law enforcement has charged 37 people.
More to come.