US charges Indian criminal gang leader with organising murder of Canadian Sikh activist

Lawrence Bishnoi, who is in prison in India, is accused of orchestrating the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023

US and Canadian authorities say they have dismantled" the leadership of a notorious Indian criminal group, charging dozens of operatives who have inflicted pain and cruelty on people, victims around the globe", including a high-profile murder in Canada that strained diplomatic relations between Canada and India.

At a press conference on Tuesday, members of the FBI and Canada's Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said as part of Operation Hard Ball - a multiyear federal investigation into murder-for-hire plots, shootings, extortion and drug trafficking - they had charged 37 people, some of whom were already in custody. Authorities are still searching for seven fugitives in the US, two in India and one in Europe.