FBI puts Goldy Brar on ten most wanted list, offers $1 million reward

Neeraj Bali

Chandigarh, Sep 29 (UNI) The FBI has placed alleged gangster Satinderjeet Singh, better known as Goldy Brar, on its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list and offered a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to his arrest, intensifying a multinational hunt for the Punjab-born fugitive.

Brar, 32, is the 543rd person to be added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list since it was established in 1950, the U.S. agency said. He is wanted on federal charges including racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy and attempted interference with commerce by extortion, and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. "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," Patrick Grandy, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, said.

Grandy said the FBI was offering up to $1 million for Brar's capture and that the publicity generated by his inclusion on the Ten Most Wanted list would put his photograph and description before audiences around the world. The FBI said Brar is based in the United States and is the alleged North American leader of the Lawrence Bishnoi Organized Crime Group, which U.S. prosecutors accuse of involvement in targeted killings, shootings, kidnappings, extortion and trafficking in narcotics and weapons across the United States and Canada.

Brar is considered "extremely violent, armed, and dangerous", the FBI said. U.S. prosecutors have also accused Brar and jailed Indian gangster Lawrence Bishnoi of ordering the June 18, 2023 assassination in Surrey, British Columbia, of a prominent Sikh political and religious figure identified in American court documents by the initials "H.S.N." The initials and circumstances described in the indictment correspond to Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot dead outside a Sikh temple in Surrey on that date.

The charges are allegations and have not been proven in court. The allegations against Brar form part of Operation Hard Ball, a years-long U.S. federal investigation into India-based transnational organised crime groups. In July, U.S. authorities announced charges against 37 defendants linked to three such groups, with 24 defendants arrested or already in custody at the time. According to the U.S. Justice Department, Brar and other alleged leaders of the Bishnoi enterprise used violence and threats to extort victims, including members of the Indian diaspora.

Prosecutors also allege that the organisation financed its operations through international narcotics trafficking and theft of drug shipments from rival gangs. "Goldy Brar and his network have wreaked devastating havoc on countless lives through high-profile murders, shootings, death threats, extortion, arson, and drug trafficking," Royal Canadian Mounted Police Deputy Commissioner Lisa Moreland said.

"His addition to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list speaks to the collective resolve to capture him," she added. The FBI said Brar has been known to reside in California and various parts of Canada and warned the public not to approach him. Brar is also wanted by Indian authorities in connection with several criminal cases. He has been widely linked by Indian investigators to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which has been accused of a string of killings and extortion cases in Punjab and other parts of India.

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