New Delhi: Murder, extortion, gun-running, drug trafficking. Name it and he’s charged with it. Designated a fugitive terrorist by India, Satinderjeet Singh, or Goldy Brar as he is better known, is now on the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitives List. Information that leads to his arrest will be rewarded with up to a million dollars.
It is significant that the US has for the first time acknowledged Brar’s presence in the country; he was said to be operating out of Canada so far. This ‘upgradation’ of Brar’s status greatly enlarges the ongoing manhunt.
Canadian and Indian security agencies have said Brar operates out of safe havens in Canada, but the latest FBI moves makes it clear that the fugitive has been operating out of the US, and that he must cross the Canada border frequently too as he stays on the hop.
Brar, believed to run a crime syndicate overseas, is a native of Sri Muktsar Sahib in Punjab.
FBI Los Angeles Assistant Director in Charge (ADIC) Patrick Grandy said at a press conference on Monday that Brar is wanted for his alleged involvement with the Lawrence Bishnoi Organised Crime Group which is engaged in a variety of violent acts in southern California, and across the US and Canada.
“These acts include assassinations of political and religious figures, shootings, murders, kidnappings, extortions, assaults, and the trafficking of narcotics and weapons,” Grandy said.
“Satinderjeet Singh, also known as Goldy Brar, is a dangerous individual, and the FBI and our partners have made it our priority to apprehend him, which is why we’re adding him to the FBI’s list of Top Ten fugitives and offering a reward of up to $1 million dollars for his capture.”
A man wanted for a variety of federal violations—including murder, extortion, and drug distribution—has been added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
Satinderjeet Singh (also known as Goldy Brar, among other aliases) is wanted for his alleged involvement in the… pic.twitter.com/AUyxi6vJFR
— FBI Los Angeles (@FBILosAngeles) September 28, 2026
“The amount of attention this list will bring to his face and description cannot be overstated; his photo will be found on every FBI-affiliated website and social media platform, and will be publicised on every phone around the world until he’s caught,” Grandy added.
Brar is based in the US and is the alleged leader of the group in North America.
On 1 July, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Brar in the US District Court, Central District of California, Los Angeles, California, after he was charged with Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Conspiracy; Conspiracy to Interfere and Attempted Interference with Commerce by Extortion; and Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess with Intent to Distribute Controlled Substances, Grandy added.
Brar is the 543rd addition to the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. Since the inception of the list in 1950, 28 defendants who committed crimes or are alleged to have committed crimes in the Los Angeles region were added to the list. Thirty-six defendants who committed crimes in other parts of the country have been arrested in Los Angeles.
Considered to be extremely violent, armed, and dangerous, Brar is known to reside in California and various parts of Canada, the FBI states.
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The Nijjar killing
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has earlier charged jailed Indian gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and his aide Goldy Brar with the high-profile killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. In June 2023, Nijjar was shot outside a gurdwara in British Columbia. The US indictment says that Bishnoi and Brar ordered the killing, identified in court documents as ‘H.S.N”, and shot in Surrey on 18 June 2023.
Designated a terrorist by India, Nijjar became the centre of a diplomatic crisis after then Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged the Indian government’s involvement in the killing, a claim New Delhi rejected as “absurd”.
Earlier, the FBI put out a similar notice that made Brar one of the most publicly pursued figures in the US crackdown on India-linked organised crime networks as part of a broader prosecution of cross-border gang activity.
Brar was charged in federal court in Los Angeles with multiple violations to include racketeer-influenced and corrupt organisations conspiracy; conspiracy to interfere and attempted interference with commerce by extortion; and conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances.
A federal arrest warrant was issued against him on 1 July by the US District Court, Central District of California, Los Angeles.
The FBI lists his place of birth as Punjab, India, and includes the multiple dates of birth that Brar has used. The agency details that he speaks Punjabi and English, and says that Brar has ties to Sacramento and Fresno in California, as well as Canada, India, and Mexico.
Brar’s listing comes as part of Operation Hard Ball, a years-long US-led crackdown on India-based transnational organised crime groups. American prosecutors say Brar was one of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s trusted lieutenants and helped run the day-to-day operations of his enterprise in North America.
Bishnoi is imprisoned in India, but US authorities allege he has continued to direct the network from jail through smuggled cellphones and Internet-calling devices. According to the indictment, Brar and another regional leader “effectively spoke for Bishnoi” and helped direct gang members and associates worldwide.
Moose Wala killing
Ever since his departure to Canada, Brar started his extortion racket in Punjab and adjoining states but he gained notoriety after the chilling murder of singer-politician Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, more famously known as Sidhu Moose Wala, on 29 May 2022.
Brar took the responsibility for the murder and explained his motive behind the high-profile killing that sent ripples across political and police circles in Punjab. ThePrint had reported on how the gang members had run surveillance on Moose Wala and would send updates about the movements via ‘Signal’ to Brar.
Brar’s name also figures in the murder of Pardeep Singh, a Dera Sacha Sauda follower. Singh was an accused in the 2015 Bargari sacrilege case and was gunned down in 2022. He is also wanted in the murder of Youth Congress leader Gurlal Singh Bhullar alias Pehalwan. Threats sent to Bollywood actor Salman Khan also feature in this list.
In 2024, the Indian government declared Brar an “individual terrorist” accusing him of “multiple killings” and being “radicalised”.
He was also accused of threatening “pro-nationalist leaders demanding ransom and posting the claims of killings on different social media platforms”.
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Association with Bishnoi
Brar came in contact with Bishnoi through Gurlal Brar, a former president of the Students Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU). After Gurlal’s murder in 2020, the duo teamed up to eliminate the killers.
The duo hatched a conspiracy to kill Pehalwan, who was shot dead by two bike-borne assailants in Faridkot city in 2020. Brar had taken responsibility and explained the motive in a Facebook post. “With Bishnoi in jail, Brar acts as a handler for the associates and gang members here in India. He manages the finances, logistics and also provides for the arms,” a source in the police establishment said.
For his involvement in the killing of Pehalwan, the Punjab Police managed to get a look out circular and non-bailable warrant issued against Brar from a Faridkot court. Later in 2022, it also managed to get a Red Notice issued against him by the Interpol.
According to the NIA’s chargesheet, Brar has “direct links” with Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) leader Lakhbir Singh alias Landa, who has been declared an individual terrorist by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Sources in the police establishment said that Brar runs the nexus and arranges logistical aid on ground through extortion money received by hawala. Last year, a case was lodged against him in Delhi on the basis of a complaint filed by singer Honey Singh, who accused Brar of threatening him on a call.
The world of crime
Brar was 18 when he began his journey into the world of crime in 2012. A minor figure, Brar has come a long way in the decade that followed. He had four cases but was acquitted in all of them before he left for Canada on a student visa in 2017.
Brar had his first brush with the law in 2012 when as an 18-year-old he was booked for a clash between two groups under Section 336 (endangering life or personal safety of others) of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code. Three years later, he was booked by the Sri Muktsar Sahib district police on murder charges along with a couple of cases in Fazilka district.
He was booked in a total of four cases, but was acquitted in all of them before he secured a student visa for a one-way trip to Canada. Brar managed to get the visa because there were no cases against him at the time of police verification for the visa, a senior Punjab Police officer told ThePrint.
Two years after his departure, his father Shamsher Singh, an Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police (ASI) in Punjab’s Muktsar district, took premature retirement which reportedly was an enforced decision because officers dealing with Brar’s case found him accomplice in his son’s extortion and other crimes. He was arrested later.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
Also Read: ‘I killed him’: In explosive call, Goldy Brar questions ‘martyr’ status of Hardeep Singh Nijjar
Great news indeed. One genuinely hopes that all such Punjab/Haryana/NCR based gangsters and mafioso would be hunted down by the FBI.
Because our own security agencies are quit clearly incapable of doing so. It beggars disbelief that Lawrence Bishnoi continues to run his massive trans-national operations sitting inside Sabarmati Jail in Ahmedabad.