New Delhi: Punjab Police are conducting raids on more than 1,000 locations allegedly connected with gangster Goldy Brar — the prime suspect in the murder of singer Sidhu Moose Wala last year. This comes amid escalating diplomatic tensions between India and Canada, where Brar is known to have lived for five years.
At a press conference he held Thursday, Punjab Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Arpit Shukla said a legal process was underway against gangsters in the state. These raids are being seen as a massive statewide crackdown on Brar’s associates.
“Raids are being conducted at more than 1000 locations associated with gangster Goldy Brar, in a state-wide operation. Senior officers in the state are monitoring the operation,” Shukla told reporters.
The development comes at a time when ties between India and Canada, where Brar moved in 2017, are at an all-time low over the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Significantly, Satwinderjit Singh alias Goldy Brar is now on Canada’s list of 25 most wanted criminals.
Moose Wala was shot dead in Punjab’s Mansa district last May. Brar had purportedly claimed responsibility for the killing in a social media post soon after.
Media reports from last December suggested that Brar, who faces several charges of murder, extortion and supplying illegal firearms, had been detained by US authorities on the back of an Interpol Red Notice against him.
A Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.
On 2 December 2022, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had confirmed Brar’s detention, saying he would soon be in the state’s custody.
But in an interview on a YouTube channel days later, Brar had purportedly said he was a “free-bird” and that he would “never be caught alive”. There’s been no news of Brar’s detention or arrest since.
His current location is unknown.
The raid also came on a day when Indian media reported that Sukhdool Singh Gill alias Sukha Duneke, a rival gangster and also among Punjab’s most wanted, had been killed in a shootout in Winnipeg, Canada. While Brar’s associate Lawrence Bishnoi and rival gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria both purportedly claimed responsibility for the killing, neither the Canadian media nor police have confirmed the development.
A day before, the NIA in a post on X had released a list of wanted men that included 43 gangsters. While some of these, like Bishnoi, are currently in Indian jails, others like Brar are fugitives. This was later deleted, but a new one seeking information on 11 wanted men — with Brar topping the list — was posted on X Thursday.
These 11 persons shown in photos are wanted in the investigation of RC-38/2022/NIA/DLI & RC-39/2022/NIA/DLI.
If you has any information about them, please WhatsApp DM @ +91 7290009373.
— NIA India (@NIA_India) September 21, 2023
The NIA also released a list of operatives of the Sikh separatist outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI).
‘Cash rewards’, list of Babbar Khalsa operatives — what NIA’s doing
The NIA’s list released Wednesday sought public assistance in identifying assets of gangsters. The agency accused those named on the list of “criminal conspiracy for terror activities in Delhi & others parts of the country” and “conspiracy being hatched by members of criminal syndicate/gangs”.
Meanwhile, its list of BKI operatives included names such as Harwinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda, and Lakhbir Singh Sandhu alias Landa, Parminder Singh Kaira alias Pattu, Satnam Singh alias Satbir Singh alias Sattaand and Yadvinder Singh alias Yadda. The NIA announced cash rewards for any information on these men.
In its statement, the NIA said that all five men are wanted in the agency’s case relating to “BKI’s terrorist activities aimed at disturbing India’s peace and communal harmony and spreading terror in the state of Punjab”.
This comes amid a souring of ties between India and Canada over the June killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, purportedly the head of a separatist outfit called the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) and a designated terrorist in India.
Nijjar was shot dead by masked assailants outside a gurdwara in Surrey in June — the latest separatist to be murdered or allegedly poisoned abroad.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said in the country’s Parliament Monday that there were “credible allegations” of potential links between the murder and Indian government agencies. The remarks have led to both countries expelling each other’s diplomats.
Significantly, in 2018, then Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh had shared with Trudeau a list of “Khalistani separatists” now based in Canada. The list included names such as Gurjeet Singh Cheema of the ‘Khalistan Liberation Force’, Nijjar, Gurpreet Singh, Gurjinder Singh Pannu, Parvkar Singh Dulai alias Parry Dulai, Bhagat Singh Brar aka Bhaggu Brar, Malkeet Singh aka Fauji, Tehal Singh, and Sulinder Singh Virk.
In 2022, India shared another list of gangsters with multiple criminal cases and separatist links taking refuge in Canada. That list included Brar, Arshdeep Singh alias Arsh Dalla, Ramandeep Singh, Lakhbir Singh aka Langda, Charanjit Singh aka Rinku Randhawa, Gurpinder Singh aka Baba and Dunike, now reported dead.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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