Markets 
An amateur boxer. An Ontario trucking company boss. A social media user whose Instagram account features photos of cash and military-style weapons.
A classified intelligence report obtained by Global News names the “key members” of the India-based gang that has been targeting South Asian Canadians.
The Lawrence Bishnoi gang’s top leaders are profiled in the report by the Canada Border Services Agency’s Intelligence and Investigations Directorate.
They include: Goldy Brar, the gang’s “top” North American lieutenant; Harry Boxer, who is accused of multiple extortions in Canada; and Goldy Dhillon, an alleged “subcontractor.”
Dated December 2025, the CBSA Tactical Guide describes the Bishnoi gang’s “growing operational presence in Canada,” “access to large amounts of money” and “vast network” of recruits.
Written for immigration enforcement officials, it combines already-known and some new details about “notable members” of the crime network blamed for high-profile killings, shootings and extortions.
To commit their crimes, the leaders rely on “local young males of Indian origin who act as independent contractors,” as well as pacts with existing gangs, the report said.
“The Bishnoi gang uses alliances with other gangsters… to recruit soldiers and organize attacks in their name,” the CBSA wrote.
The crime group “is leveraging Indo-Canadian street gangs, such as the Ruffians, and other unidentified groups to conduct extortions in Canada on their behalf,” it said.
The report also reveals the gang’s suspected use of the commercial vehicle industry.
“It is likely that the Bishnoi gang (and other gangs) have significant ties into the commercial motor vehicle community, allowing the gang to move associates and contraband, including firearms, across multiple provinces inconspicuously,” it said.
Since 2023, the Bishnoi gang has targeted South Asian Canadians in B.C., Alberta and Ontario, populations, making exorbitant demands for extortion payments and following up with threats, shootings and arsons.
Task forces set up to tackle the problem have made several arrests, and immigration officials have deported dozens of suspects, but they have made less progress against the leaders.
Who are they?
Balkaran Barar, who goes by Lawrence Bishnoi, is a former Indian student leader who used his position to run a crime network. Despite being imprisoned in India since 2015, he has nonetheless expanded his operations into Canada, the U.S., Europe and the Middle East. Appealing to youths by glamorizing the gangster lifestyle on social media, he uses contraband cell phones to direct contract murders and extortions, kill his enemies and traffic in weapons and drugs. The RCMP has accused Bishnoi, who depicts himself as an Indian nationalist, of “acting on behalf of the Indian government.” As of July, he faces racketeering charges in the U.S. He has also been charged with ordering the assassination of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Nijjar, although Canadian authorities suspect India was ultimately behind the killing.
Satinderjit Singh Brar, aka Goldy, is Bishnoi’s top lieutenant. He came to Canada to study in Kamloops, B.C., in 2017 but instead helped form the gang’s North American franchise. He has been linked to the crime group’s most sensational murders: the 2022 killing of the popular Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala in India; and Nijjar’s slaying in Surrey, B.C. in 2023. He has now reportedly split with Bishnoi after a falling out. He claimed refugee status in Canada but never showed up for his hearing and his whereabouts are unknown.
Rawataran Swami, aka Pawan Kumar or Rohit Godara, is a suspected top lieutenant of the Bishnoi gang who manages operations for Goldy Brar, the CBSA wrote. He claimed responsibility for a 2024 shooting at the Vancouver Island home of Punjabi musician A.P. Dhillon. He is implicated in almost three dozen criminal cases and allegedly linked to multiple high-profile murders in India, the CBSA said. Like Brar, he recently broke with Lawrence Bishnoi and his whereabouts are unknown.
Hari Chand Jat, aka Harry Boxer, fled India in 2022 and “is believed to now be operating the Bishnoi gang in the U.S.,” the CBSA wrote. He has been linked to extortion in Canada and two shootings at Kap’s Cafe, a Surrey, B.C., business owned by comedian Kapil Sharma. He claimed Sharma was targeted because he had invited Salman Khan to appear on his Netflix show. Khan is a Bollywood actor whom Bishnoi has repeatedly threatened, apparently blaming him for shooting an antelope, an animal held in high regard by the Indian Bishnoi community.
Gurpreet Singh, aka Goldy Dhillon, is a “subcontractor” for Goldy Brar and the Bishnoi gang who recruits foot soldiers to carry out extortion attacks in Canada, the CBSA said. He may own a Brampton, Ont., trucking company, although that is unconfirmed, the agency added. He has “claimed responsibility via social media for multiple shooting incidents related to extortions in Surrey, B.C. in 2025,” the CBSA added.
Aka Sipa, Sidhu was a Bishnoi associate behind numerous extortion calls in Canada. An Edmonton police officer has testified that Sidhu was the “primary individual who would take care of communications” for extortions, adding the RCMP had identified his involvement through voice matching technology. He was murdered in Dubai in November 2025. Both Goldy Brar and Rohit Godara claimed responsibility following their split from the Bishnoi gang, accusing Sidhu of being a police informant and embezzling money.
Lawrence Bishnoi’s younger brother, he fled India in 2022 and took over the gang’s U.S. operations, the CBSA said. FBI surveillance photos show him associating with other Bishnoi members in California. Another gang member, Karamveer Singh, whom Lawrence assigned to take “care of his brother,” later crossed the border illegally into Canada and was detained while awaiting his deportation, according to a Canadian judge. Anmol was arrested in the U.S. in 2024 and returned to India last November.
The younger brother of late gangster Kala Rana and a “close associate of Lawrence Bishnoi,” he was allegedly helping run the gang’s U.S. operation. He may have tried to cross the border into Canada but was caught. “Unconfirmed reports indicate that Rana was apprehended by U.S. law enforcement at the Niagara border after Anmol was deported from the U.S. to India on November 18, 2025,” the CBSA wrote.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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