Who is Lawrence Bishnoi? How a notorious crime boss became embroiled in the Canada-India dispute

NEW DELHI: As diplomatic relations between India and Canada deteriorate following the killing of a Sikh separatist leader, all eyes are now on one of the South Asian country’s most notorious gangsters.

Earlier this month, Canadian police accused Lawrence Bishnoi of conspiring with Indian government agents to kill and persecute members of Canada’s Sikh diaspora.

It comes in the wake of allegations last year by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that New Delhi was involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen – allegations that India has vehemently denied.

The Trudeau government has upped the ante in recent weeks by expelling India’s top diplomat in Canada after he refused to be questioned in the case.

Bishnoi’s alleged involvement highlights what Canada calls the long arm of India’s underworld and its ability to commit violence far from home.

Bishnoi, in his early 30s, heads “one of the most feared terror syndicates” in South Asia, according to India’s federal counter-terrorism watchdog.

His gang, described in Indian court filings, numbers about 700 people and includes suspected militants and drug traffickers in Canada, the United States and the United Arab Emirates.

The Trudeau government says Bishnoi coordinated with Indian officials to target dissidents abroad, particularly Sikh activists living in Canada who support the creation of an ethno-religious homeland in India called Khalistan.

Canada has been investigating the Indian government’s involvement in the shooting death last year of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian separatist activist whom Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government considers a terrorist. New Delhi has repeatedly denied allegations that officials were involved in the attack.

Bishnoi has been linked to Sikh militant groups in the past, which is ironic given that he is now accused of attacking Canadians campaigning for Khalistan.

He and his gang had strong ties to Sikh separatist elements, some of whom operate from Pakistan, court documents show.

India’s federal counter-terrorism watchdog also said that Bishnoi and his associates were involved in the jailbreak of a suspected Khalistani separatist in 2016 and that they attacked a police station in the northern state of Punjab in 2022 using sophisticated weapons including rocket-propelled grenades.

According to court documents, Bishnoi spent nearly a decade behind bars in India, having been convicted of several crimes dating back to 2010, when he was charged with trespassing with intent to commit assault with a weapon.

He gained popularity on social media by voicing his displeasure against famous Punjabi singers, Bollywood actors and Indian politicians.

Over the years, his YouTube and Instagram videos made by his supporters have racked up hundreds of thousands of likes.

Charges from Canada

Terminder Singh, a lawyer who represented Bishnoi in Punjab, declined to comment on Canada’s allegations. “There was no proper investigation into these allegations,” he said.

“It is difficult to explain how a person in prison organizes attacks or extorts money.”

Canada has not yet released evidence linking Indian officials to Bishnoi.

Trudeau said his government made the allegations public only after Indian officials rejected lengthy behind-the-scenes efforts to resolve the issue diplomatically.

In its denials, India highlighted the lack of publicly available information.

Randhir Jaiswal, a spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs, said New Delhi also has a history of distancing itself from Bishnoi, including asking Canada to extradite his gang members living in the country.

“We informed Canada about them several years ago and also recently,” Jaiswal told reporters earlier this month. “There has been no response from Canada.”

Even though Bishnoi is currently in jail in Gujarat, some Indian officials still believe he is capable of criminal activities. India’s federal anti-terrorism watchdog, the National Investigation Agency, told a trial court last year that Bishnoi was so adept at operating from inside his cell that he did not feel the need to seek bail.

Crime syndicate

Bishnoi was born in Dutranwali, a small town in Punjab near the India-Pakistan border. He grew up in a relatively prosperous family, according to Indian police officials, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to discuss ongoing investigations.

Court documents trace Bishnoi’s first brush with the law to a time when he was a college student when he shot and killed a political rival.

According to Indian court records, Bishnoi began creating his crime syndicate in 2013.

By the age of 20, his name had already appeared in almost a dozen criminal cases.

In 2022, Bishnoi claimed responsibility for the death of famous Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosa Wala, an event that brought him to the front pages of Indian newspapers.

The Bishnoi gang also took to social media to claim responsibility for the murder of politician Baba Siddique last month.

One Indian police officer, who asked not to be identified to discuss sensitive information, said Bishnoi enjoys his carefully cultivated image as a “patriotic gangster” and a dark hero who turns to crime to right wrongs.

Bishnoi is a mercenary: he kills, extorts and threatens for profit, the officer said.

Links between India’s political establishment and local criminal gangs, including Bishnoi’s, are not unusual.

Last December, Delhi police arrested a former Indian intelligence agent on charges of extorting money from a businessman on behalf of Bishnoi.

Agent Vikas Yadav is also wanted in the US for attempting to murder an American citizen who actively advocates the creation of a separatist state for Sikhs, who mainly inhabit Punjab in northern India.

Yadav’s lawyer, R.K. Khandu, said the case is “false and the accusations are unfounded.”

Under previous governments, high-level committees warned of links between the underworld and politicians, including the coordination of attacks in South Asia.

However, what is new has the potential to hit countries like the US, Canada and Australia – wealthy Western democracies that consider India a strategic partner.

As Canada and India continue to trade barbs, Modi has refrained from making public comments.

But during election rallies, India’s prime minister gave credit to his administration for pursuing and eliminating alleged criminals in other countries. It is a topic that India’s former prime ministers have generally avoided broaching.

“Under this strong government, our forces are killing terrorists on their own soil,” Modi said at a recent political rally in the Jammu and Kashmir region. – Bloomberg