Federal prosecutors in the United States on Tuesday charged one of the most notorious leaders of Indian organized crime, Lawrence Bishnoi, and eight of his alleged associates. According to investigators, they were involved in the 2023 killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, CBS News reports.

According to the indictment, Lawrence Bishnoi and another defendant organized Nijjar’s killing. Nijjar was shot dead on June 18, 2023, outside a Sikh temple in the city of Surrey, British Columbia. Nijjar was a prominent supporter of the creation of an independent Sikh state of Khalistan in northern India. Indian authorities had previously designated him a terrorist in connection with that activity.

Investigators say that two other members of the criminal conspiracy, whose names have not been disclosed, were the direct perpetrators of the killing. As noted in the case materials, however, Lawrence Bishnoi later publicly claimed responsibility for the attack.

The indictment also states that, despite being arrested in India in 2015, Bishnoi continued to run an international criminal network from prison. According to prosecutors, using smuggled mobile phones and internet communications, he coordinated political assassinations, contract killings, armed attacks, extortion, kidnappings, drug trafficking, migrant smuggling, and other crimes committed by members of Lawrence Bishnoi’s organized crime group around the world.

According to investigators, Bishnoi’s childhood friend Satinderjit Singh Brar oversaw the group’s activities in North America and also took part in organizing Nijjar’s killing.

After Nijjar’s murder, another prominent Sikh separatist and close associate of his, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, became the target of an assassination plot in New York. However, U.S. authorities say the FBI thwarted the conspiracy.

Previously, law enforcement agencies in the United States and Canada said that Nijjar’s killing and the attempted killing of Pannun were organized on the orders of representatives of the Indian authorities.

In February, Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan in a case involving preparations to kill Pannun in conspiracy with former Indian intelligence officer Vikas Yadav, who remains at large.

In addition to the charges in the Nijjar murder case, Lawrence Bishnoi, Satinderjit Singh Brar, and seven other defendants have been charged with participation in an organized criminal enterprise, extortion, drug trafficking, and a number of other crimes.

In addition, federal prosecutors in the United States announced charges in two other cases related to the activities of Indian criminal organizations — the Jaggu Bhagwanpuria organized crime group and the Dhanda drug trafficking organization.