An Indian gang accused of extortion and murder-for-hire in Canada has been “acting on behalf of the Indian government,” according 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 government of India a half-dozen times in just three pages.
Distributed internally last year, the document is a classified assessment of the Bishnoi gang’s growing presence in Canada. A copy was released to Global News on Monday under the Access to Information Act.
“The Bishnoi Crime Group is a violent criminal organization with an active, continually expanding presence in several countries, including Canada,” according to the report.
Driven by greed rather 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 known to use violence to further their criminal enterprise, while acting on behalf of the Indian government,” said the briefing, marked “Protected A.”
The report is not dated but refers to B.C. Premier David Eby’s June 17, 2025 statement asking the government to list the Bishnoi gang as a terrorist organization.
It was released by the RCMP on the same day Eby began a Jan. 12-17 trade mission to India. Prime Minister Mark Carney also reportedly intends to visit India later this year.
The diplomatic push is part of a broader effort to diversify Canada’s trade partnerships and offset an erratic tariff regime led by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Organizations representing Canadian Sikhs, the primary 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 government of Canada are clearly aware that the Bishnoi gang is operating in coordination with the government of India to target 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 is 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 at the expense of the safety and security of Canadians.”
The Indian High Commission in Ottawa did not respond to a request for comment. Nor did Carney’s office. Carney has previously said the justice system was dealing 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 “issues of shared concern.”
“Our proper role, as a sub-national government, as a province, is to ensure we’re looking after B.C.ers, and in a moment of opportunity and warming relations with India, to ensure that we’re benefiting from that, delivering jobs for B.C.ers, and, particularly, in sectors that have been particularly hard hit by Trump’s tariffs, 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 leader 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 four 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 deal 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.
But the RCMP report, prepared “to provide situational awareness on the Lawrence Bishnoi Crime Group” and its “key individuals,” refers repeatedly to India’s alleged association with the gang.
According to the report, the Bishnoi gang got its start by using intimidation in student politics in India’s Punjab and grew to include 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 of Bishnoi’s closest associates, is thought 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 another 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 like the Bishnoi group’ to target leaders of the pro-Khalistan movement in Canada.
Moninder Sikh of the Sikh Federation Canada, formed to push back against India’s alleged illicit activities in the country, said government policies were endangering Canadians.
“The federal government and now the B.C. government are putting lives at risk by signing trade deals with a country like India which has taken no responsibility or shown any remorse for their foreign interference,” he said.