The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) said on Wednesday (July 8, 2026) that Lawrence Bishnoi, a Punjab-born gangster currently lodged in a high-security prison in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, used WhatsApp and other encrypted messaging applications as recently as December 2025 and January 2026 to allegedly extort and attempt to extort $5 million from victims in Los Angeles and Thousand Oaks in the U.S.
The DoJ has accused him and his associate Satinderjeet Singh, alias Goldy Brar, of ordering the assassination of pro-Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. It said the “enterprise routinely targeted prominent religious, social, and political leaders with violence, and used these high-profile acts to terrorise and extort members of the community.”
For instance, in November 2023, Bishnoi claimed responsibility for a shooting that occurred at the Vancouver, Canada, residence of a prominent Indian actor and singer, and warned in a Facebook post written in Punjabi that “no one can save you from us”.
According to his lawyer Rajni Khatri, Bishnoi is lodged at Sabarmati jail since 2023 in solitary confinement and is under 24/7 CCTV surveillance. The Union Home Ministry has invoked Section 303 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, which prohibits his movement outside the jail, and he participates in court hearings through video conference. If police from outside the State have to interrogate him, they come to the prison.
According to a chargesheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2022 against Bishnoi and others, he has 84 cases registered against him in Delhi, Chandigarh, Rajasthan, and Punjab with the first case dating back to 2010.
Ms. Khatri said that Bishnoi has been discharged or acquitted in 40 other cases. “If he was using WhatsApp to carry out the extortion activities from jail, then authorities should give supporting evidence. He is under 24/7 surveillance in the prison. He only meets his legal team,” she said. Before Sabarmati, Bishnoi was lodged for a year in a Punjab jail and in Delhi’s Tihar jail prior to that.
There was no response from State or Central government officials on the allegations made by the U.S. authorities.
The NIA’s chargehseet echoed the allegations made by the U.S. DoJ about Bishnoi running his racket from the prison. The DoJ said that by “using contraband cellphones and other voice-over internet protocol devices smuggled into his jail cell, Bishnoi personally directed political assassinations, murders, shootings, extortions, kidnappings, drug trafficking, human smuggling, and other crimes committed by members and associates of the Bishnoi enterprise worldwide.”
In 2022, the NIA had said that Bishnoi “runs the entire operations of the gang from within the jail”. “He is so adept in operating from inside the jail that he has not applied bail in any case since last many years,” it had said.
But Ms. Khatri said Bishnoi did not apply for bail in the recent years as there are several cases registered against him and no one will come forward to secure a bail-bond for him.
For instance, the NIA chargesheet cited the conspiracy to murder Sidhu Moosewala. It stated that during the planning and execution of the killing, key accused persons were lodged in different prisons, including Bishnoi and Jaggu Bhagwanpuria in Tihar, Manpreet in Ferozepur jail, Saraj Singh Mantoo in Bathinda jail and Manmohan Singh in Mansa jail. Despite being incarcerated, they allegedly remained in communication with Brar, who coordinated with the jailed associates, and eventually tasked the shooters with carrying out the killing after Moosewala’s security cover was reduced, the NIA had said.
NIA had said that a considerable part of money generated through extortion activities is sent to Canada, the U.S., Dubai, Thailand, and Australia for the use of their foreign-based associates and family members, and also for funding the activities of “pro-Khalistan extremists”.
NIA compared the Punjab-based gangster’s rise to that of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. The agency said Bishnoi, who began as a petty criminal, had expanded his network into a vast organised crime syndicate, much like Dawood’s gang.
According to the U.S. DoJ, Bishnoi, a self-styled university student leader before tiring of politics and turning himself and his followers to crime, presided over a sweeping criminal enterprise that spanned multiple continents. It said that in public, Bishnoi projected an image of himself as a “patriot”, “nationalist” and deeply religious individual through social media posts and interviews with news organisations and used this public image to recruit members and associates to his crime syndicate in India, the U.S. and elsewhere.
The NIA had said that assisted by associates including Goldy Brar, Sachin Thapan, Anmol Bishnoi, Vikram Brar, Kala Jatheri and Kala Rana, Bishnoi allegedly expanded his network into a large criminal organisation. Its chargesheet had stated that the gang eventually grew to include over 700 associates and generated crores of rupees through criminal activities.
Published – July 08, 2026 11:09 pm IST
