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India and Canada are in the midst of world row after they expelled six of every others’ diplomats in tit-for-tat strikes.
It comes after Canada accused Indian authorities brokers of hyperlinks to the 2023 homicide of a Sikh separatist chief close to Vancouver.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), which is investigating the case on the coronary heart of Monday’s rupture in ties, accused Indian authorities brokers of being linked to an organised crime group referred to as the “Bishnoi group”.
India’s prime investigative physique, the Nationwide Investigation Company, describes the group as a legal gang headed by Lawrence Bishnoi, whose lawyer says he contests greater than 40 instances accusing him of crimes equivalent to homicide and extortion, with many trials but to start.
India has not reacted to the accusations of hyperlinks between authorities officers and the Bishnoi group. The overseas ministry didn’t reply to a Reuters question for remark.
India has beforehand rejected as “preposterous” all Canadian accusations concerning the homicide.
Who’s Lawrence Bishnoi?
The NIA has accused the 31-year-old regulation graduate, in jail since 2015, of operating a trans-national crime syndicate.
Born within the northern state of Punjab, Bishnoi is brief and lean, sporting a beard and moustache when seen in public for courtroom appearances.
In statements, the NIA has stated he runs his syndicate from jails in several states, in addition to nations equivalent to Canada, via associates, who’ve been in touch with “pro-Khalistani” components in neighbouring Nepal and different nations.
Nonetheless, Bishnoi has stated he opposes Khalistan, or the demand for an impartial Sikh state, and was not “anti-national”, in an interview with a personal information channel final 12 months.
The video of the interview has since been taken down and police are investigating how the video took place.
Bishnoi is an inmate of the Sabarmati central jail within the western industrial metropolis of Ahmedabad in Gujarat state. Media have stated he has been moved round totally different prisons out of concern for his security – and his means to interrupt jail guidelines.
Canada didn’t state particular costs, however the RCMP stated there was “particular focusing on” of these supporting Khalistan within the nation.
It named the Bishnoi organised crime group as having earlier claimed a few of these actions, and accused it of being linked to Indian brokers.
Bishnoi and his associates face a number of homicide, extortion and terror-related costs.
The NIA has stated they need to unleash a wave of terror via focused killings of well-known social and non secular leaders, film stars, singers and businessmen.
Some high-profile instances embrace the 2022 killing of a well-liked Punjabi rapper named Sidhu Moose Wala, which the NIA laid on the door of Bishnoi‘s associates.
Police, who arrested greater than 20 folks, have named Bishnoi as a key suspect, media have stated.
In a video launched by media channels, Bishnoi threatened to kill actor Salman Khan, an icon of India’s Bollywood movie business, in 2018. Pictures have been fired close to Khan’s home this 12 months. Bishnoi has not commented on the matter, nonetheless.
The police arrested two gunmen for an assault they later stated was on the behest of Bishnoi‘s group.
On Saturday, gunmen within the enterprise capital of Mumbai shot useless a lawmaker named Baba Siddique earlier than fleeing.
A person claiming to belong to Bishnoi‘s group took accountability for the killing in a posting on Fb. Police officers have since advised media Bishnoi was behind the plot, with out citing proof.
Bishnoi‘s lawyer, Rajani, who solely makes use of one identify, stated he faces about 40 instances of homicide, extortion and terror-related costs, relationship again to 2012, all through India.
He has contested the accusations, with trials in lots of of those instances but to begin, she added.
