An Indian gang accused of extortion and murder-for-hire in Canada has been “acting on behalf of the Indian government,” in response to an RCMP document obtained by Global News.
In a report on the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, the RCMP national security division mentioned the crime group’s alleged ties to the federal government of India a half-dozen times in only three pages.
Distributed internally last 12 months, the document is a classified assessment of the Bishnoi gang’s growing presence in Canada. A replica was released to Global News on Monday under the Access to Information Act.
“The Bishnoi Crime Group is a violent criminal organization with an energetic, continually expanding presence in several countries, including Canada,” in response to the report.
Driven by greed relatively than political or religious motives, the Bishnoi gang commits extortions, drug trafficking, money-laundering and contract killings, the RCMP notes.
“The Bishnoi Crime Group is thought to make use of violence to further their criminal enterprise, while acting on behalf of the Indian government,” said the briefing, marked “Protected A.”
The report shouldn’t be dated but refers to B.C. Premier David Eby’s June 17, 2025 statement asking the federal government to list the Bishnoi gang as a terrorist organization.
It was released by the RCMP on the identical day Eby began a Jan. 12-17 trade mission to India. Prime Minister Mark Carney also reportedly intends to go to India later this 12 months.
The diplomatic push is an element of a broader effort to diversify Canada’s trade partnerships and offset an erratic tariff regime led by U.S. President Donald Trump.
RCMP report on the Lawrence Bishnoi gang and its alleged ties to the federal government of India.
Global News
Organizations representing Canadian Sikhs, the first targets of India’s alleged campaign of violence, have protested the attempts to deepen ties with India.
They accuse politicians of betraying them by prioritizing improved trade over holding India to account for its alleged assassination plots targeting South Asian Canadians.
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“The RCMP and the federal government of Canada are clearly aware that the Bishnoi gang is working in coordination with the federal government of India to focus on individuals in Canada,” said Balpreet Singh, the World Sikh Organization of Canada spokesperson.
“But for political convenience, this reality is being downplayed and hidden,” he said.
“It’s deeply troubling that the Canadian government appears willing to overlook India’s ongoing campaign of transnational repression and its clear links to the Bishnoi gang on the expense of the security and security of Canadians.”
The Indian High Commission in Ottawa didn’t reply to a request for comment. Nor did Carney’s office. Carney has previously said the justice system was coping with incidents of violence.
The B.C. premier’s office referred to Eby’s comments last week that a “criminal process” was underway and the federal government was engaged with India on “problems with shared concern.”
“Our proper role, as a sub-national government, as a province, is to make sure we’re taking care of B.C.ers, and in a moment of opportunity and warming relations with India, to be sure that we’re benefiting from that, delivering jobs for B.C.ers, and, particularly, in sectors which have been particularly hard hit by Trump’s tariffs, just like the softwood industry,” he said.
Concerns that India was behind acts of violence in Canada hit headlines following the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh temple leader, gunned down in Surrey, B.C., on June 18, 2023.
Nijjar was a frontrunner of the Khalistan movement that seeks independence for India’s Sikh-majority Punjab state. India had branded him a “terrorist” and pressed Canada to arrest him.
Three months after his killing, then-prime minister Justin Trudeau told the House of Commons that Canadian authorities were investigating the possible role of Indian government agents.
The 4 suspected gunmen were arrested in May 2024. Global News has reported that Canada obtained intercepted communications linking senior Indian officials to the Nijjar killing.
On Oct. 14, 2024, RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme further warned that investigations had linked Indian officials to violent crimes in Canada.
Canada expelled six Indian consular and diplomatic officials in protest. But since becoming prime minister, Carney has restored diplomatic ties and said he wants a trade cope with Modi.
Amid rising incidents of extortion and shootings, the Canadian government added the Bishnoi gang to its list of terrorist groups last September. The listing makes no mention of the Indian government.
However the RCMP report, prepared “to offer situational awareness on the Lawrence Bishnoi Crime Group” and its “key individuals,” refers repeatedly to India’s alleged association with the gang.
Based on the report, the Bishnoi gang got its start through the use of intimidation in student politics in India’s Punjab and grew to incorporate an estimated 700 members in several Indian states.
“The group’s reach now extends across North America, Europe and the Gulf states, and other areas with significant Punjabi diaspora communities,” the RCMP wrote.
Although its leader, Lawrence Bishnoi, has been imprisoned in India since 2015, he has “reportedly continued to run his organization while incarcerated,” it said.
“Goldy Brar, believed to be one in every of Bishnoi’s closest associates, is assumed to have taken over the Bishnoi Crime Group’s activities,” the report added. Brar’s real name is allegedly Satinderjeet Singh.
The report repeats RCMP allegations that Indian agents were involved in Nijjar’s killing. It also said the Bishnoi gang had claimed responsibility for killing one other pro-Khalistan activist in Manitoba.
Sukhdool Singh was killed in Winnipeg in September 2023. Like Nijjar, he had been labelled a terrorist by the Indian government, the RCMP report said. He was also a member of the Bambiha gang, a rival of Bishnoi, it said.
“The RCMP has claimed that agents of the Indian government were using ‘organized crime groups just like the Bishnoi group’ to focus on leaders of the pro-Khalistan movement in Canada.
Moninder Sikh of the Sikh Federation Canada, formed to thrust back against India’s alleged illicit activities within the country, said government policies were endangering Canadians.
“The federal government and now the B.C. government are putting lives in danger by signing trade deals with a rustic like India which has taken no responsibility or shown any remorse for his or her foreign interference,” he said.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca