India submissive after US indictment

Lawrence Bishnoi charged with orchestrating assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023

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Reuters July 15, 2026 1 min read

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NEW DELHI:

India said on Tuesday that it is committed to working with its partners to combat transnational organised crime, a week after the US charged the imprisoned head of an Indian criminal gang with directing the 2023 murder of a Sikh leader in Canada.

Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead outside a Sikh temple in Canada's Surrey, and then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had alleged Indian involvement in his killing, badly damaging ties between the countries.

US and Canadian authorities said that they has "dismantled" the leadership of a notorious Indian criminal group, charging dozens of operatives who have "inflicted pain and cruelty on people, victims around the globe", including a high-profile murder in Canada that strained diplomatic relations between Canada and India.

At a news conference last week, members of the FBI and Canada's Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said as part of Operation Hard Ball – a multiyear federal investigation into murder-for-hire plots, shootings, extortion and drug trafficking – they had charged 37 people, some of whom were already in custody. Authorities are still searching for seven fugitives in the US, two in India and one in Europe.

The highest profile indictment was of Lawrence Bishnoi, the imprisoned head of an Indian criminal gang, who was charged with orchestrating the assassination of a well-known Sikh campaigner from behind the bars of a Delhi prison cell.

Hardeep Singh Nijjar was fatally shot in 2023 outside a temple in Canada where he served as president. Police said they had also charged his childhood friend, Satinderjeet Singh, for his role in the killing. Singh, who also goes by the name Goldy Brar, is now a fugitive in the US.

Bishnoi is alleged to have directed the operation using smuggled mobile phones and provided a co-conspirator with photos of Nijjar and his known addresses in order to facilitate the assassination.

The brazen daylight shooting of Nijjar sparked tensions between the Canadian and Indian governments, after the then Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said there were "credible allegations" that the Indian government had been involved in Nijjar's death.

Nijjar was a leading figure in the movement to create an independent Sikh homeland known as Khalistan. The outspoken activist, who was born in India and was a Canadian citizen, had been called a terrorist by Indian authorities who had offered a reward for information leading to his arrest.