The United States has charged Lawrence Bishnoi, the imprisoned head of an Indian criminal gang, and his North American deputy with directing the 2023 murder of Sikh leader Hardeep ​Singh Nijjar in Canada, which plunged relations between Ottawa and New Delhi into crisis.

A ‌federal indictment unsealed in Los Angeles alleges Bishnoi and Satinderjeet Singh, also known as “Goldy Brar”, ordered the shooting of Nijjar outside a Sikh temple in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18, 2023.

The indictment says Bishnoi ​directed the operation from an Indian jail cell using smuggled cellphones and provided a co-conspirator ​with a photograph and multiple addresses of Nijjar’s to facilitate the killing. Singh, ⁠a childhood friend of Bishnoi, allegedly directed the North American operations of the criminal group known as ​the “Lawrence Bishnoi Organised Crime Group”.

Nijjar’s killing triggered a diplomatic crisis after then-Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said ​months later that Canadian authorities were “actively pursuing credible allegations” linking Indian government agents to the murder. New Delhi rejected the claim as absurd.

Read: Indian man pleads guilty in US murder plot

The US indictment charging Bishnoi and Singh does not allege any Indian government role in the killing.

Nijjar, ​a Canadian citizen, had campaigned for the creation of Khalistan, an independent Sikh homeland carved out of ​India, and had been designated a terrorist by New Delhi.

Neither First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli nor any other ‌official ⁠at a press conference in Los Angeles alleged that the Indian government was involved in or aware of the killing.

An FBI Wanted poster for suspect Satinderjeet Singh, as US and Canadian law enforcement officials announce federal charges and arrests of alleged members of a transnational organised crime group, at FBI offices in Los Angeles, California, US, July 7. — REUTERS

The charges against Bishnoi and Singh were part of a broader investigation by US and Canadian authorities that charged 37 defendants tied to three India-based organised crime groups with racketeering, extortion and drug ​trafficking, 24 of whom ​were arrested or already ⁠in custody, authorities said.

Canadian police in May 2024 arrested and charged four Indian nationals over Nijjar’s killing, and have said they were probing whether the men had ​ties to the Indian government. The US indictment does not name the ​alleged shooters as ⁠defendants, referring to them only as co-conspirators.

Also Read: What is the Khalistan movement and why is it fuelling India-Canada rift?

Relations between Ottawa and New Delhi have thawed under Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who visited India in February on his first official trip and opened talks on a trade ⁠deal expected ​to be completed by November.

His approach has drawn criticism from ​some Sikh groups, who accuse Ottawa of failing to hold India accountable or safeguard Sikh Canadians from foreign interference and transnational repression.