Gangster Bishnoi charged with ordering Nijjar hit in B.C. as U.S. announces arrests

LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Justice Department says 24 suspects around the world, three of them in Canada, have been arrested in connection with offences by India-based organized crime groups, including the murder of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia.

Lawrence Bishnoi, a gangster who is in prison in India, and his alleged lieutenant Satinderjeet Singh, also known as Goldy Brar, are charged with ordering Nijjar’s June 2023 assassination outside a Surrey, B.C., gurdwara.

The indictment against a total of 37 suspects says such high-profile crimes were used to terrorize Indian community members.

It says that in November 2023 Bishnoi claimed responsibility for a separate shooting that occurred at the Vancouver home of a prominent Indian actor and singer, warning in Punjabi in a Facebook post that “no one can save you from us.”