The US on Tuesday released formal charges filed against Indian gangsters, including Lawrence Bishnoi and his aides, describing the sweeping crackdown on these organised crime networks as ‘Operation Hard Ball’.
The federal indictments identify Bishnoi and his North America-based aide Goldy Brar for allegedly ordering the June 2023 assassination of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.
The Bishnoi case was among the three indictments unsealed on Tuesday. Together, these charge 37 people. Eleven of the 24 people arrested were held in California, with one each in Indiana and Georgia. Three suspects were arrested in Canada and one in Spain, while seven were already in custody. Those held in the US were expected to make their initial court appearances on Wednesday.
Ten fugitives remain at large – seven in the US, two in India and one in Europe.
About Operation Hard Ball
The US Justice Department’s release said Operation Hard Ball was a coordinated investigation by agencies in the US, Canada, Spain and India.
Tracking criminal syndicates with roots in India, the statement said that the probe examined networks allegedly engaged in racketeering, contract killings, extortion, kidnappings, international drug trafficking, weapons offences and human smuggling across multiple countries.
Through the operation, the period for which has not been disclosed, 34 search warrants were carried out – 23 in Sacramento and 11 in Los Angeles – yielding roughly 1,000 kilograms of cocaine, a kilogram of heroin, $40,000 in cash and 12 firearms, the statement said.
Prosecutors alleged the Bishnoi network funded itself partly through international cocaine trafficking, including 49 kilograms intercepted in California in 2024 en route to Canada, and by stealing about 520 kilograms of cocaine from rival trafficking groups in the Los Angeles area between 2024 and 2025.
Lawrence Bishnoi, gangs and the business of fear
Bishnoi, 33, is one of India’s most prominent gangsters and has spent much of the past decade in prison after starting out as a student leader in Punjab and building a criminal network that spread across several countries. He has been in Indian custody since 2015.
US prosecutors alleged that Bishnoi built a reputation as “patriotic”, “religious” and “nationalist” to draw recruits, while running the gang from behind bars using smuggled phones and internet-calling devices.
Bishnoi is currently lodged in an Ahmedabad jail.
The indictment accuses him of directing murders, political assassinations, kidnappings, extortion, drug trafficking and human smuggling. Canada, it notes, designated his organisation a terrorist entity in 2025.
Prosecutors also alleged Bishnoi delegated control to a tier of “lieutenants” – Goldy Brar ran operations across North America, coordinating activities in the US and Canada, and Rohit Godara (37) of Rajasthan led the network’s activities in Europe.
Sukhraj Singh Kang, 58, of Punjab, allegedly helped manage operations across multiple countries on Bishnoi’s behalf, the justice department said.
The gang’s widely known killing before Nijjar’s was that of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala in 2022. Investigators linked it to a gang rivalry and alleged the gang had planned the attack.
The indictment describes the network as functioning like a multinational criminal enterprise. Victims were reportedly extorted through WhatsApp and other encrypted messaging applications, with threats made against them or their families.
Two other India-linked syndicates were charged alongside the Bishnoi network. The Bhagwanpuria gang faces allegations of murder-for-hire, extortion and drug trafficking, while the Dhanda network is accused of smuggling hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine from Southern California into Canada.
“Working together, law enforcement in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia are determined to target and dismantle these criminal organisations wherever they operate. There is no safe harbour for these thugs,” Bill Essayli, first assistant US attorney, was quoted as saying in the statement.
If convicted, defendants across the three indictments face sentences ranging from 10 years to life imprisonment under US federal law.
