US indicts Indian crime syndicates in 2023 Nijjar killing

U.S. federal prosecutors have unveiled sweeping criminal charges against three India-based transnational crime syndicates, directly linking imprisoned gang leader Lawrence Bishnoi to the 2023 assassination of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. The charges, announced on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, are the result of a multi-year international investigation dubbed Operation Hard Ball.

A total of 37 defendants have been charged across three indictments unsealed in a Los Angeles federal court. Authorities in the United States, Canada, and Europe have arrested 24 people, including 11 in California, as part of a coordinated crackdown. Ten other suspects remain at large across several countries.

The indictments allege that Lawrence Bishnoi, who has been jailed in India since 2015, and his close associate Satinderjeet Singh, also known as Goldy Brar, directed the fatal shooting of Nijjar outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18, 2023. Prosecutors claim Bishnoi continued to run a global criminal enterprise from his prison cell using smuggled mobile phones and encrypted communication devices.

The criminal networks, which include factions linked to Bishnoi, Jaggu...