Kumar Bahukhandi
Lawrence Bishnoi -Photo Credit-Internet
The notification is another positive step forward in repairing India-Canada ties after an all-out diplomatic war in the final months of Justin Trudeau’s prime ministership.
New Delhi:Mob boss Lawrence Bishnoi and his gang – linked to murder, extortion, and arms and drugs trafficking in India and abroad – has been declared a ‘terrorist entity’ by Canada under its Criminal Code, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said Monday evening.
This means any Bishnoi gang asset in that country, from cash to vehicles and property, can be frozen or seized, giving Canadian law enforcement more (and sharper) teeth to prosecute gang members for various offences, including those related to financing of terrorist activities.
It also means immigration officials can deny suspected gang members entry into Canada.
“Acts of violence and terror have no place in Canada, especially those that target specific communities to create a climate of fear and intimidation,” a government statement said.
Under Canadian law, it is now a criminal offence for a Canadian citizen, and those abroad, to knowingly deal with property owned or controlled by the Bishnoi gang. It is also a criminal offence to directly or indirectly provide property knowing it will be used by or benefit the gang.
The notification – another step forward in repairing India-Canada ties after an all-out diplomatic war in the final months of Justin Trudeau’s prime ministership – comes a month after a Canadian MP, Frank Caputo, urged Anandasangaree to slap the ‘terrorist’ tag on Bishnoi.
Caputo, the shadow Public Safety Minister, wrote to Anandasangaree to highlight Bishnoi’s vast criminal empire and said it was guilty of assassinations and the extortion of Canadian citizens, and engaged in such illegal activities for “political, religious, and ideological reasons”.
“The Bishnoi gang’s activities lay the groundwork for listing it as a terrorist entity. As you know, they have taken credit for vast violence in Canada and abroad,” he said in the letter shared on X.
He also pointed to appeals by four other Canadian politicians, including Patrick Brown, the Mayor of Brampton, which is home to about 20 per cent of Canada’s Sikh population.
British Columbia Premier David Eby and his Alberta counterpart, Danielle Smith, as well as Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke, have also called for the Lawrence Bishnoi gang to be taken down.
The Canadian government has frequently named the Bishnoi gang as one of the more nefarious criminal syndicates in that country, and has also linked it to arms and drugs trafficking.
Lawrence Bishnoi – who split from Goldy Brar, an associate who ran his Canada ops, in June – and his gang of criminals and assassins have been linked to various murders since the headline-grabbing killing of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala in May 2022.
That list includes the December 2023 murder of Rajput leader Sukhdev Gogamedi and the October 2024 killing of Maharashtra politician Baba Siddique, as well as firing outside the home of Bollywood star Salman Khan – targeted over the 1999 blackbuck case – in April 2025.
But it was the killing of Hardeep Nijjar, a pro-Khalistani figure, in June 2023 that cemented the gang’s international ‘credentials’. Nijjar was a Canadian citizen, and his killing sparked a diplomatic row; Trudeau had claimed – without proof – the Indian government was involved.
India trashed the charges and accused Trudeau of pandering to Khalistani terrorist vote banks.
India-Canada ties nosedived as a result. However, since Trudeau was removed, and Mark Carney appointed as his successor, they have been recovering, slowly.
On August 1 Ottawa made a new diplomatic posting to Delhi, the first since top officials on either side were pulled out in the aftermath of the row with Trudeau.
