Bishnoi led decentralized syndicate, wanted to kill ‘SK’ to create fear: US DoJ

Police officers escort Lawrence Bishnoi to a court in New Delhi. | Photo credit: ANI

The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) said that between 2022 and 2026, jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi announced his intention “to assassinate SK, a well-known Indian actor and television personality” to further his “enterprise” and create public fear.

Although the name is not expanded in DOJ court records, the initials and details match the threats against actor Salman Khan in Mumbai during this period. Bishnoi, a Punjabi-born gangster, has been lodged in a high-security prison in Ahmedabad since 2023.

On July 8, the Department of Justice announced indictments against three transnational organized crime syndicates linked to Punjab operating in India, Canada, the US and Europe, including the Bishnoi syndicate. The Justice Department said 37 people have been charged so far. It said 24 defendants linked to three Indian groups accused of a litany of crimes have been arrested in the US, Canada and Spain. According to them, the police are looking for 10 fugitives – seven in the US, two in India and one in Europe.

The US filed the charges in a California court in February 2026, records show.

The prosecution said recruitment coordinators for the Bishnoi gang lured poor minors in India to join the enterprise by promising them money, fame and protection, among other things.

She said that after being recruited into the Bishnoi gang in India, new members were given minimal compensation for crimes committed on behalf of the business. The gang sent loyal members abroad, including the U.S. and Canada, on student visas and foreign work visas — often containing fraudulent information — to help the enterprise with criminal operations in those countries, the Justice Department said.

It added that the membership of the Bishnoi Organized Crime Group (OCG) was decentralized. “With the exception of their leaders, Bishnoi OCG members and associates often had limited information about the identity or background of other Bishnoi OCG members and associates… This decentralized structure also protected the enterprise and its members from criminal liability in the event that a Bishnoi OCG member or associate was arrested for a crime and chose to cooperate with law enforcement,” the Justice Department said.

Key evidence, according to the prosecution, was provided by Sukhraj Singh Kang, a high-ranking member of the gang based in India who coordinated acts of violence in the US, Canada and elsewhere.

On January 25, 2025, Kang spoke with a person he believed to be an individual who owed between $100,000 and $200,000. But this person was a confidential informant working with law enforcement (CI-1). Kang agreed to help CI-1 extort the borrower in exchange for a $16,000 fee. Investigators then provided a staged video purporting to show a shooting at the borrower’s residence. Members of the alleged plot believed the video to be real and used it to intimidate the intended victim.

In reality, the alleged debtor was an undercover law enforcement agent (UC-1). The prosecution alleges that over the following weeks, several accused – including Kang, Rajan Bhatti, Goldy Brar, Rohit Godara, Bhulwan and Sumit – communicated directly with UC-1, demanding money and making threats. Prosecutors say those conversations, in Punjabi and Hindi and sent via WhatsApp and Signal, allowed investigators to document alleged extortion demands, threats to family members, payment negotiations and mechanisms by which money would be collected. The operation culminated in a controlled transfer of extortion money in California involving alleged associates of the Bishnoi network.

Published – 9 Jul 2026 21:24 IST