India and Canada removed six of one another’s negotiators in blow for blow moves after Ottawa blamed Indian government specialists for connections to the 2023 homicide of a Sikh dissenter pioneer close to Vancouver.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), which is looking into the case that led to the breakup of ties on Monday, said that Indian government employees were connected to the “Bishnoi group,” an organized criminal organization.
The group is referred to as a criminal gang by India’s top investigative body, the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Lawrence Bishnoi’s lawyer claims that he contests more than 40 cases that accuse him of crimes like murder and extortion, and many trials have not yet begun.
India has not responded to the allegations that government officials are connected to the Bishnoi group. Reuters inquired about the matter and received no response.
India has previously deemed all Canadian allegations regarding the murder to be “preposterous.”
Here are key realities about Bishnoi and his partners.
Who is Lawrence Bishnoi?
The law graduate, who has been in prison since 2015, is being accused by the NIA of running a transnational crime syndicate.
Bishnoi is a short, lean man who was born in the northern state of Punjab. When he appears in public for court appearances, he wears a beard and a moustache.
In explanations, the NIA has said he runs his organization from correctional facilities in various states, as well as nations, for example, Canada, through partners, who have been in touch with “favorable to Khalistani” components in adjoining Nepal and different nations.
However, in an interview with a private news channel last year, Bishnoi stated that he was not “anti-national” and opposed Khalistan, or the demand for an independent Sikh state.
The interview video has since been removed, and police are looking into how it got there.
Where is he now?
Bishnoi is a prisoner at the Sabarmati central jail in the Gujarat state’s western industrial city of Ahmedabad. According to the media, he has been moved around a number of prisons due to concerns about his safety and his capacity to violate rules.
What has Canada said about him?
Although the RCMP stated that Khalistan supporters in the country were the subject of “specific targeting,” Canada did not specify any specific charges.
It said that the Bishnoi organized crime group had claimed some of those things in the past and was connected to Indian agents.
Do you know if he faces any other charges?
There are a number of murder, extortion, and terror-related charges against Bishnoi and his associates.
The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has stated that they intend to carry out targeted assassinations of well-known businessmen, movie stars, religious and social figures, and religious and social leaders.
Some high-profile cases incorporate the 2022 killing of a well known Punjabi rapper named Sidhu Moose Wala, which the NIA laid at the entryway of Bishnoi’s partners.
Police, who captured in excess of 20 individuals, have named Bishnoi as a key suspect, media have said.
In 2018, Bishnoi made threats to kill Bollywood icon Salman Khan in a video that was distributed by media outlets. This year, shots were fired near Khan’s house. Be that as it may, Bishnoi has not remarked regarding this situation.
The police captured two shooters for an assault they later expressed was at the command of Bishnoi’s gathering.
On Saturday, a legislator by the name of Baba Siddique was shot and killed by gunmen in Mumbai, India’s business hub, before they fled.
An individual professing to have a place with Bishnoi’s gathering got a sense of ownership with the killing in a post on Facebook. Since then, without citing any evidence, police officials have told the media that Bishnoi was behind the plot.
Which position does Bishnoi take?
Rajani, Bishnoi’s sole attorney, stated that he is facing approximately 40 murder, extortion, and terror-related charges across India dating back to 2012.
She added that he has challenged the allegations, with preliminaries in a significant number of these cases yet to begin.
