US charges Indian crime boss over 2023 assassination of Sikh activist
US prosecutors charged Lawrence Bishnoi, a 33-year-old Indian crime leader, in connection with the 2023 assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar , a prominent Sikh activist shot dead outside a temple in British Columbia while organizing a referendum on an independent Sikh homeland, Khalistan. The charges were part of a coordinated US, Canadian, and European operation that swept up 37 defendants tied to kidnapping, extortion, drug trafficking, and murder, with prosecutors alleging Bishnoi’s network “routinely targeted prominent religious, social and political leaders with violence” for pay.
The case revives a diplomatic rupture. Nijjar’s killing drew Canadian claims of “credible allegations” of Indian government involvement, straining New Delhi’s ties with Ottawa and Washington. By charging Bishnoi rather than naming state actors, US prosecutors frame the killing as organized crime — a narrower legal path that still keeps the politically sensitive question of Indian state links in view without directly accusing the government.