Agencies | New Delhi:
Nearly three years after then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged a potential link between Indian government agents and the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has said its investigation has found no evidence that Indian government officials were involved in, or have been charged in connection with, the murder.
The clarification came as the United States unsealed an indictment naming jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and his associate Goldy Brar as the alleged masterminds behind Nijjar’s killing, with no allegations against the Government of India.
During a media briefing following a joint US-Canada law enforcement operation, the RCMP said investigators had not found evidence implicating Indian officials in the homicide investigation, even as authorities announced arrests and indictments targeting transnational organised crime networks.
The statement accompanied the announcement of Operation Hard Ball, a coordinated investigation conducted by the RCMP and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) targeting the Lawrence Bishnoi, Ravinder Dhanda and Jaggu Bhagwanpuria criminal networks. Canadian authorities alleged the groups were involved in extortion, drug trafficking, kidnappings and other violent crimes, including the killing of Nijjar.
The development comes nearly three years after Trudeau told Canada’s Parliament there were “credible allegations” linking agents of the Indian government to Nijjar’s killing, triggering a major diplomatic dispute between Ottawa and New Delhi.
India rejected the allegations from the outset, describing them as “absurd” and repeatedly calling on Canada to provide evidence to support its claims.
The diplomatic fallout led to reciprocal expulsions of senior diplomats, a significant reduction in diplomatic staff, the temporary suspension of visa services for Canadian citizens by India, the freezing of trade negotiations and repeated accusations of foreign interference and extremism. Bilateral ties remained strained for nearly two years before both countries began cautiously rebuilding engagement under Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
US indictment names Bishnoi and Brar
According to the US indictment, federal prosecutors allege that Lawrence Bishnoi directed the conspiracy from prison in India using smuggled mobile phones, while Goldy Brar coordinated the operation from North America.
Prosecutors allege Bishnoi supplied photographs and residential details of Nijjar to facilitate the assassination, which took place outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18, 2023.
The charges form part of a broader federal case against 37 defendants allegedly linked to three Indian-origin organised crime syndicates accused of murder, extortion, narcotics trafficking and weapons smuggling across Canada, the United States and other countries.
A separate seven-count indictment targets a transnational criminal network allegedly led by Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, a former associate and now rival of Bishnoi, who is also incarcerated in India. Prosecutors allege the organisation, with more than 1,000 associates worldwide, was involved in large-scale narcotics trafficking, illegal arms dealing and murder-for-hire operations. The indictment further alleges the network manipulated law enforcement processes through fabricated information to facilitate extortion schemes targeting rivals and their families in jurisdictions ranging from Punjab to Ohio.
A third indictment focuses on an alleged cross-border drug trafficking network headed by Vancouver-based Ravinder Singh Dhanda. US prosecutors claim the organisation smuggled hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine across the US-Canada border each week, using commercial transport vehicles to move narcotics from Southern California into Canada. As part of the coordinated operation, law enforcement agencies executed searches at multiple locations in Canada, including a residence linked to a relative of Dhanda on Cliff Avenue.
