Canada murders spark calls to label India’s Bishnoi gang a ‘terror’ group

On a crisp spring morning in Brampton city of Canada’s Ontario province in Could, Harjit Singh Dhadda meticulously tied his conventional sage inexperienced turban as he bought prepared for work.

He embraced his daughter Gurleen earlier than leaving for his trucking insurance coverage workplace in Mississauga close to Toronto’s bustling Pearson worldwide airport.

It was the final time Gurleen noticed her 51-year-old father alive. As Harjit reached the automotive park of his workplace on Could 14, two males confronted him. Certainly one of them pumped a number of bullets into Harjit’s physique earlier than fleeing in a stolen 2018 Dodge Challenger.

Harjit later died of his accidents at a neighborhood hospital.

Hours later, two males claimed duty for Harjit’s homicide in a Fb submit, calling themselves members of a prison gang led by Lawrence Bishnoi, an Indian nationwide at the moment imprisoned at Sabarmati Central Jail within the western Indian state of Gujarat.

Barely a month after Harjit’s homicide, a businessman in Surrey, British Columbia, and one other in Harjit’s city, Brampton – each of Indian origin – had been shot. Native authorities say the murders symbolize a disturbing growth of prison networks rooted in India into Canadian territory – led by India’s most infamous organised crime syndicate, the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

Now, a rising variety of political leaders in Canada need the federal authorities to behave, demanding that the Bishnoi gang be declared a terrorist organisation.

‘Public security should come first’

“The terrorist designation allows police to make use of the required instruments to research and produce this exercise to an finish. It provides police vital investigative instruments,” British Columbia’s Premier David Eby mentioned in an announcement on June 17.

In July, his Alberta counterpart, Daniel Smith, echoed that decision. “Formally designating the Bishnoi Gang as a terrorist entity will unlock important powers, permitting legislation enforcement companies to entry the required instruments and sources wanted to disrupt operations and shield our folks successfully,” Smith mentioned in a Fb submit on July 14.

Alberta’s Public Security Minister Mike Ellis mentioned there was credible intelligence indicating the involvement of the Bishnoi gang in extortion and focused violence within the province and elsewhere in Canada. “The gang originates from India, and ongoing investigations are inspecting why they’re particularly focusing on the South Asian neighborhood,” Ellis instructed Al Jazeera in an announcement.

Jody Toor, a lawmaker from the Conservative Get together within the British Columbia Legislature, and Brampton metropolis Mayor Patrick Brown have additionally supported designating the Bishnoi gang a terrorist organisation.

The Canadian federal authorities has steered that it’s inspecting these calls for. “There’s precedent for prison organisations being designated this fashion, and I totally assist a radical, evidence-based method,” Secretary of State for Combating Crime Ruby Sahota instructed Al Jazeera. “Public security should come first, and if a gaggle meets the factors, it needs to be listed at once.”

Amarnath Amarasingam, a researcher on extremism and an affiliate professor at Queen’s College in Ontario, mentioned that itemizing the Bishnoi group as a terrorist organisation would considerably broaden legislation enforcement powers. It might enable legislation enforcement companies to pursue terrorism-related expenses, criminalise recruitment or monetary assist for the group, seize and freeze belongings, and provides them higher surveillance powers.

Canadian officers had, in 2024, accused the Bishnoi gang of performing on the behest of Indian intelligence companies to focus on critics of the Indian authorities on their soil.

“A terrorist designation would ship a robust sign to India and different allies that Canada is taking the transnational menace severely. It might additionally improve information-sharing alternatives with international companions,” Amarasingam instructed Al Jazeera. These companions embody the 5 Eyes alliance, which additionally consists of the USA, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

A terrorist tag might strengthen Canadian requests for arrests by way of organisations like Interpol, too, he added. It might set off sanctions towards the gang, permitting the federal government to institute journey bans, visa denials and monetary blacklisting of associates and funders.

However he warned that itemizing the group as a terrorist organisation might have its downsides. Whereas clearly concerned in prison exercise, the Bishnoi gang doesn’t seem to have political, spiritual or ideological targets – historically the bar that listings have wanted – he mentioned.

“Utilizing terrorism powers to focus on a gaggle that lacks this motivation might set a harmful precedent, weakening the credibility of Canada’s itemizing course of and reducing the edge, opening the door for future political misuse,” Amarasingam mentioned.

An Indian intelligence asset?

However the Bishnoi gang isn’t any unusual prison syndicate, in response to Canadian officers.

In recent times, the Indian authorities below Prime Minister Narendra Modi has confronted allegations that its intelligence brokers have been making an attempt to hold out focused assassinations of Sikh separatists abroad, particularly in Canada and the US.

Canada is house to about 770,000 Sikhs, who make up 2.1 p.c of its inhabitants – their largest quantity exterior India. Lots of them moved to Canada within the Eighties when Indian forces launched a violent crackdown on alleged supporters of a motion demanding a separate Sikh homeland, Khalistan, to be carved out of the northern Indian state of Punjab. India describes such separatists as “terrorists”.

It was the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, exterior a Sikh temple on June 18, 2023, that pushed Bishnoi and his gang to the centre of a bitter diplomatic struggle between Canada and India.

In October that 12 months, then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that Indian diplomats had been gathering intelligence on “Canadians who’re opponents or in disagreement with the Modi authorities” and that the intelligence reached “prison organisations just like the Lawrence Bishnoi gang to then lead to violence towards Canadians on the bottom”.

Trudeau and his authorities immediately blamed the Modi authorities for Nijjar’s assassination. Nijjar was a outstanding supporter of a Khalistani state.

However New Delhi, whereas rejecting these allegations, has insisted that it has despatched greater than two dozen extradition requests to Canada, looking for Ottawa’s assist in getting Bishnoi gang members again to India to face “due authorized motion”. And it says that Canada hasn’t acted on its request.

As Canada and India commerce allegations, many within the Indian origin neighborhood are coping with mounting insecurity. Might they be the following goal of the Bishnoi group?

‘Threatening name’

Over three a long time, Harjit, a Sikh entrepreneur, had constructed a life that resembled a Canadian immigrant success story.

He ran an organization referred to as G&G Trucking Options – a consultancy agency that suggested its shoppers on the best way to begin and run a trucking firm, and was a industrial insurance coverage dealer as nicely. His enterprise expanded to Calgary and Edmonton, in Alberta, and he had practically 30 workers.

Then, on December 10, 2023 – his birthday – he obtained a cellphone name from somebody who recognized himself as an Indian gangster, his daughter Gurleen recalled. The caller demanded 500,000 Canadian {dollars} ($361,000) in extortion cash and threatened dire penalties if the cash wasn’t paid. Harjit refused to pay and knowledgeable legislation enforcement authorities.

“He instructed me concerning the threatening name,” Gurleen, a 24-year-old enterprise pupil at York College in Toronto, instructed Al Jazeera.

After the threatening name, Harjit modified his day by day routine and commenced working his enterprise principally from house. However ultimately, he resumed conferences with shoppers in his workplace, his daughter mentioned.

On Could 14, Gurleen obtained a name from her father’s workplace. He had been shot.

“I rushed to the workplace. There have been bullet casings scattered in every single place. Police had cordoned off your entire space. My father was rushed to the hospital, he later succumbed to his accidents,” mentioned Gurleen.

Police have arrested three males – recognized as Aman and Digvijay, each 21, and Shaheel, 22 – as suspects. However Harjit’s household says legislation enforcement have solely scratched the tip of the iceberg.

“Police merely arrested three children. However who orchestrated this? I needed to know the person behind my father’s killing,” mentioned Gurleen.

In the meantime, two males – Rohit Godara and Goldy Brar – who referred to as themselves members of the Bishnoi gang, posted on Fb that they’d killed Harjit. They claimed that Harjit had helped a rival gang and was concerned in a homicide in India – allegations that the household denies. Police haven’t confirmed whether or not they imagine the Bishnoi gang was behind Harjit’s killing.

On June 12, 2025, one other Indian-origin businessman, Satwinder Sharma, was shot in Surrey, British Columbia. An Indian origin gangster, Jiwan Fauji claimed duty for the homicide. Indian police have labelled Fauji an alleged member of Babbar Khalsa Worldwide, a banned Khalistani outfit. Sharma’s household didn’t reply to an Al Jazeera request for an interview.

A bit over per week later, on June 20, Brampton-based businessman, MP Dhanoa, was shot down. Once more, Godara and Brar claimed duty on behalf of the Bishnoi gang in a Fb submit.

Harjit, Sharma and Dhanoa haven’t any recognized hyperlinks to the Khalistani motion.

However gang chief Lawrence Bishnoi, aside from his crime community, has introduced himself as a Hindu nationalist in interviews from jail, and a few supporters of Modi’s Hindu majoritarian Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP) authorities have spoken of how the gangster had scared Khalistan supporters.

Rise to notoriety

Indian police officers say that Bishnoi, 32, controls greater than 700 sharpshooters who perform murders and extortion globally. And he does this from behind bars, shuffling between numerous prisons for practically a decade now.

Bishnoi and Brar gained large notoriety in Could 2022, when the gang murdered outstanding Punjabi singer and rapper Sidhu Moosewala in Punjab. Police mentioned Brar allegedly orchestrated Moosewala’s killing from Canada.

Ajai Sahni, government director of the New Delhi Institute for Battle Administration, mentioned establishing a command chain – and even defining what constitutes a gang – isn’t straightforward with transnational teams. “Any incident executed in India could be claimed by Bishnoi gang members in Canada or within the US, and vice versa by way of unverifiable social media accounts,” Sahni instructed Al Jazeera. He steered that in such circumstances, even surveillance data towards suspects may not suffice as robust sufficient authorized proof.

Sanjay Verma, former Indian excessive commissioner – Canada expelled him after Trudeau’s allegations in 2023 – mentioned final 12 months that India had shared details about Brar’s presence in Canada with Ottawa.

In 2024, Bishnoi’s gang claimed duty for the homicide of a 66-year-old politician, Baba Siddique, in Mumbai’s Bandra space. Two members of the Bishnoi gang had been additionally arrested for firing exterior the Mumbai residence of widespread Bollywood actor, Salman Khan.

Gurmeet Singh Chauhan, deputy inspector normal of the Anti-Gangster Job Drive in India’s Punjab, advocates for a joint data-sharing mechanism between international locations affected by prison gangs, like Bishnoi.

“If we now have any proof, it needs to be promptly shared with our Canadian counterparts, who should examine it at once and hold us knowledgeable. Crime is crime – irrespective of the place it happens on this planet,” Chauhan instructed Al Jazeera. “There’s a very skinny line between organised crime and terrorism. These networks could be exploited for terrorist actions at any time, anyplace on this planet.”

The Bishnoi group has additionally claimed duty for assaults on the properties of two outstanding Punjabi singers, AP Dhillon and Gippy Grewal, in British Columbia, over the previous two years, as its empire of concern has expanded from Mumbai to Mississauga. And on August 7, an alleged Bishnoi gang member claimed duty for gunshots fired at a restaurant in British Columbia owned by Indian comic Kapil Sharma.

‘They might execute me’

Satish Kumar, a 73-year-old businessman in Surrey, British Columbia who migrated to Canada 45 years in the past, says he lives in fixed concern.

Kumar is the president of Lakshmi Narayan Temple in Surrey, a outstanding spiritual website for Hindus.

Earlier this 12 months, he obtained a cellphone name from a person who recognized himself as Godara, the Bishnoi affiliate who – together with Brar – claimed duty for the killings of Harjit and Dhanoa. “He demanded two million Canadian {dollars} [$1.45m] as extortion,” Kumar instructed Al Jazeera, including that he blocked the quantity.

Later he reported the decision to the police, after receiving threats from different numbers. “They despatched a number of voice notes on Could 28, 2025, threatening to kill me and hurt my enterprise premises, however I blocked the numbers”, mentioned Kumar.

Then, the threats turned to bullets.

On June 7, males allegedly belonging to the Bishnoi gang fired photographs at numerous buildings owned by Kumar. “The gang members filmed the shootings at three of my premises and despatched me the footage, however I refused to pay extortion,” he mentioned.

Kumar mentioned he was annoyed with what he referred to as an “insufficient response” by the Canadian police. “They [gangsters] might execute me at any second. I nonetheless obtain calls from them. My household is below fixed stress,” he instructed Al Jazeera.

As assaults escalate, the South Asian neighborhood in Surrey and Brampton has been campaigning for extra security on social media, importing movies of varied shootings within the two cities. Since 2003, gang-related homicides in British Columbia have climbed from 21 p.c to 46 p.c of all homicides in 2023, in response to the provincial police.

“Throughout work, I can momentarily neglect about these gangs,” Kumar mentioned. “However as soon as I end my work, then it’s there – this concern.”