New Delhi: Jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi has been indicted in the United States for allegedly ordering the June 2023 assassination of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, marking the first time that the India-based gang have been criminally charged in connection with the killing that triggered an unprecedented diplomatic rupture between India and Canada.

The allegation forms part of three indictments unsealed on Tuesday by the US Department of Justice as part of a coordinated international crackdown on as many India-based transnational organised crime networks.

The operation, dubbed “Operation Hard Ball,” involved law enforcement agencies of three jurisdictions, resulting in the arrest of 24 people across the US, Canada and Spain and charges against 37 defendants.

According to one of the indictments, Bishnoi and his alleged North American lieutenant, Satinderjeet Singh alias Goldy Brar, “ordered the assassination” of Nijjar, who was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18, 2023. The indictment refers to Nijjar by his initials, “H.S.N.”, and alleges that the killing formed part of the criminal enterprise operated by the Bishnoi organisation.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) commissioner Mike Duheme, who took part in the announcement, was more direct about the case at the centre of it. In a separate statement issued by the RCMP, he said the three networks charged had been engaged in “extortions, drug trafficking, kidnapping and widespread violence – namely the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar – in Canada and the United States.”

Ottawa has said there is no evidence that Indian officials are connected to the alleged crimes mentioned in the indictments and said that New Delhi had cooperated with the investigation.

The indictment portrays Bishnoi as cultivating the public image of a “patriot”, “nationalist” and “deeply religious individual” through social media and media interviews, which prosecutors allege he used to recruit members and associates to his syndicate in India, the US and elsewhere.

Behind that public persona, prosecutors allege, Bishnoi directed a transnational criminal enterprise from his prison cell using contraband cellphones and internet-based communication devices. The indictment identifies Brar as the North American leader of the Bishnoi enterprise, alleging........

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