Investigators probing the 2023 killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada have found no evidence linking Indian government officials to the murder, a senior Canadian police official said, directly contradicting previous allegations by the then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that severely strained bilateral ties.

The remarks by Lisa Moreland, the Deputy Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), came hours after the U.S. authorities charged jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and his aide Satinderjeet Singh alias Goldy Brar of ordering Nijjar’s assassination.

Under a coordinated hunt named ‘Operation Hardball’, the law enforcement agencies of the U.S., Canada and Europe arrested 24 people for their alleged links to three India-based organised crime groups, including the Bishnoi gang.

The charges against them included orchestrating Nijjar’s murder as well as various other cross-border organised crime.

Sharing details of the probe, Ms. Moreland told Canada’s CBC News that the investigators found no evidence that Indian officials were involved in Nijjar’s killing.

“There’s no evidence to suggest through this organised crime investigation and the charges and the indictment laid forward that Indian officials were charged or involved,” she said, responding to a specific question on Trudeau’s charges.

Ms. Moreland said the Indian government extended cooperation to the investigation.

Weeks after Nijjar’s killing outside a Gurudwara in British Columbia, Mr. Trudeau made a sensational allegation linking the Indian government to the Sikh separatist’s murder.

A furious New Delhi categorically dismissed the charges as “absurd”.

As the relations hit rock bottom following Trudeau’s allegations, India accused Ottawa of allowing pro-Khalistani elements to operate from Canadian soil.

In October 2024, India recalled its high commissioner and five other diplomats after Ottawa attempted to link them to the Nijjar case. India also expelled an equal number of Canadian diplomats.

However, Liberal Party leader Mark Carney’s victory in the parliamentary election in April last year helped rebuilding the relations.

Subsequently, both sides posted their high commissioners in each other’s capitals. The two countries also agreed to revive several mechanisms to advance relations in a range of areas.

Also read | India strongly rejects new Canadian media report on Nijjar killing, calls it smear campaign

The relations witnessed a major upswing since PM Carney’s visit to India in March.

In her remarks, Ms. Moreland said the investigation has found that the Bishnoi gang has been involved in extortions, drug trafficking, kidnapping and violence in Canada and elsewhere.

While Bishnoi has been in jail in India since 2015, the FBI announced a reward of USD 50,000 for information leading to the arrest of ‘Brar’.

The crackdown on the crime networks of Lawrence Bishnoi, Ravinder Dhanda and Jaggu Bhagwanpuria was part of a years-long federal investigation into Indian crime syndicates engaged in targeted killings, shootings, extortion, drugs trafficking and other crimes around the world, the U.S. Justice Department said.

In total, 37 defendants — including two defendants who ran their global criminal syndicates while imprisoned in India — are charged across three indictments unsealed today, it said.

“The charges set forth in the indictment include allegations that Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar directed the 2023 assassination of a prominent Sikh leader in Canada identified by his initials HSN (Nijjar) in the indictment,” Bilal A. Essay, First Assistant U.S. Attorney, said on Tuesday.

RCMP commissioner Mike Duheme said the agencies disrupted the operations of “organised criminals who used murder, cruelty and fear to extort and control people in both Canada and the United States.

“We won’t pause for long to reflect on the work it took to get this job done; we’ll keep doing what we do best to preserve public safety in Canada, in the United States, and around the world,” Mr. Duheme said.

Nijjar was the chief of banned Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) and was designated as terrorist by India.

Published – July 08, 2026 06:59 pm IST

A police officer from Punjab is among the 37 accused including gangster Lawrence Bishnoi who is at present lodged at Sabarmati jail in Ahmedabad, named by the U.S. Canadian and Europe and authorities for racketeering, targeted killings, shootings, extortion, trafficking of bulk quantities of narcotics across international borders, and other crimes around the world whose impact is especially felt in the Indian diaspora.

The police officer was identified as Gurinderjit Singh by First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli.

Addressing a press conference in the U.S., Mr. Essayli said that the police officer “is not in custody yet but he will be shortly.”

“We have charged him and we will extradite him to the U.S.” he said.

The police officer is accused of working closely with Punjab’s Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, 38, a gangster imprisoned in India, who is an associate-turned-rival of Lawrence Bishnoi, and has also founded his own criminal enterprise in Punjab, a press statement by U.S. Department of Justice said.

It added that the Bhagwanpuria gang operates as a transnational criminal syndicate headquartered in India with members across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. This group includes more than 1,000 members and associates worldwide, and more than 100 members and associates in the United States.

“To expand its power, this group corrupted law enforcement officers in India and partnered with corrupt government officials, including to assist in extortion schemes. It also provided false information to law enforcement officers in India regarding alleged crimes,” the U.S. Department of Justice said.

The Bhagwanpuria group used this false information to target perceived rivals and individuals that members or associates believed were cooperating with law enforcement, often triggering baseless criminal proceedings and extortion plots by corrupt Indian law enforcement officers against perceived rivals.

Elaborating on the role of the police officer, the statement said that in April 2026, Gurlal Singh, 22, of Stockton, California, a member of the Bhagwanpuria syndicate who is an illegal alien from India, threatened a victim and then provided the victim’s name to a corrupt law enforcement officer in India’s Punjab State.

“This ultimately led to the victim, the victim’s father, and the victim’s sister being falsely accused of the January 2026 murder of a victim in India identified in court documents as “B.S.” It also led to the corrupt law enforcement officer in India extorting the victim and the victim’s father in connection with that pending murder case,” it said.

Mr. Essayli said that the police officer extorted a family in Los Angeles with approximately $4,00,000.

A separate member of the Bhagwanpuria syndicate, Gurdev Singh, 26, is alleged to have attempted to extort a family living in the Midwest while he was being held in ICE custody, including by threatening to “put bullets in your kids.”

In total, 37 defendants — including two defendants who ran their global criminal syndicates while imprisoned in India — are charged across three indictments unsealed today (July 8, 2026). Those arrested in the United States — 11 in California, one in Indiana, and one in Georgia — are expected to make their initial appearances today in federal court.

Three defendants have been arrested in Canada, one defendant was arrested in Spain, and seven defendants already were in custody prior to today’s law enforcement operation.

Law enforcement is looking for 10 fugitives — seven in the United States, two in India, and one in Europe.

As part of this investigation, law enforcement has seized approximately 1,000 kilograms of cocaine and 1 kilogram of heroin along with $40,000 in cash and a dozen firearms. A total of 23 search warrants have been executed in the Sacramento area and 11 warrants have been executed in the Los Angeles area.

Published – July 08, 2026 12:11 pm IST