Bishnoi ran decentralised syndicate, wanted ‘S.K.’ killed to instill fear: U.S. DoJ

The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) said that between 2022 and 2026, jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi announced his intention “to murder S.K., a well-known Indian actor and television personality” to promote his “enterprise” and instill fear in the public.

Though the name is not expanded in the DoJ’s court records, the initials and details match with the threats against actor Salman Khan in Mumbai during the period. Bishnoi, a Punjab-born gangster, is lodged in a high-security prison in Ahmedabad since 2023.

On July 8, the DoJ announced the indictment against three Punjab-linked transnational organised crime syndicates operating across India, Canada, the U.S., and Europe, including the Bishnoi syndicate. DoJ said that 37 people have been charged so far. It said that 24 defendants, connected to three India-based groups charged with a litany of criminal acts, have been arrested in the U.S., Canada, and Spain. Law enforcement is looking for 10 fugitives — seven in the U.S., two in India, and one in Europe, they said.

The charges were filed by the U.S. in a California court in February 2026, records show.

The indictment said that recruitment coordinators for the Bishnoi gang “enticed impoverished minors in India to join the enterprise by promising, among other things, money, notoriety, and protection.”

It said that upon being recruited into the Bishnoi gang in India, new members received minimal compensation for criminal acts committed on behalf of the enterprise. The gang sent loyal members abroad, including to the U.S. and Canada, on student visas and foreign worker visas — often containing fraudulent information — to assist the enterprise’s criminal operations in those countries, the DoJ said.

It added that the membership in the Bishnoi organised crime group (OCG) was decentralised. “With the exception of its leaders, Bishnoi OCG members and associates often had limited information on the identities or backgrounds of other Bishnoi OCG members and associates… This decentralised structure also protected the enterprise and its members from criminal liability in the event a Bishnoi OCG member or associate was arrested for a crime and decided to cooperate with law enforcement,” the DoJ said.

According to the indictment, Sukhraj Singh Kang, a senior India-based member of the gang who coordinated acts of violence in the U.S., Canada and elsewhere, provided key evidence.

On January 25, 2025, Kang spoke to a person he believed was an individual who was owed a debt of between $100,000 to $200,000. But the person was a confidential informant working with law enforcement (CI-1). Kang agreed to assist CI-1 with extorting the debtor in exchange for a fee of $16,000. Investigators then provided a staged video purporting to show a shooting at the debtor’s residence. Members of the alleged conspiracy believed the video was real and used it to intimidate the intended victim.

In reality, the supposed debtor was an undercover law-enforcement agent (UC-1). The indictment alleges that, over the following weeks, several accused — including Kang, Rajan Bhatti, Goldy Brar, Rohit Godara, Bhulwan and Sumit — communicated directly with UC-1, demanding money and issuing threats. Prosecutors say these conversations, in Punjabi and Hindi and sent via WhatsApp and Signal, allowed investigators to document alleged extortion demands, threats against family members, negotiations over payments and the mechanisms through which money would be collected. The operation culminated in controlled handovers of extortion money in California involving alleged associates of the Bishnoi network.