Punjab Police welcome FBI’s bounty on Goldy Brar, slam Canadian inaction - The Indian Express
The Punjab Police Tuesday welcomed the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announcement that fugitive gangster Satinderjit Singh alias Goldy Brar was added to the country’s list of the top ten wanted criminals, with a $1 million reward for information leading to his capture. However, senior officers say Canadian authorities could have apprehended Brar earlier if they had taken Punjab Police warnings seriously.
Goldy Brar was designated as a terrorist by India in January 2024. He had publicly claimed responsibility for the murder of renowned Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala on May 29, 2022, within hours of the killing. A chargesheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) identifies him as the mastermind of this operation.
Speaking to The Indian Express, a senior Punjab Police intelligence officer said the force had been working in tandem with central agencies for a long time to ensure Brar’s arrest in North America.
“We were very disappointed with the Canadian attitude from 2022 to 2024 when he was not nabbed despite Punjab Police providing Canadian authorities with his precise location. Despite an Interpol Red Corner Notice and his placement on Canada’s Be On Look Out (BOLO) list, no arrest was made. We also noted with concern that he was subsequently removed from the BOLO list without explanation,” said the officer.
While Goldy Brar is learnt to have shifted base to the US from Canada, the Punjab Police maintain that he has been running his extortion racket from Canada in a seamless manner. In December 2022, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced at a press conference in Gujarat that US authorities had detained Brar in California, but this later proved untrue.
According to a dossier prepared by the Punjab Police on criminals based in Canada, over the past several years, the transnational connections between the Punjabi diaspora in Canada and India have been systematically exploited by organised criminal networks operating from Canada, which have progressively evolved from conventional criminal activity into hardcore gang operations and, in several cases, terror-linked activities.
“Over recent years, Indian citizens have been subjected to coordinated and sustained extortion calls carried out by criminal networks operating from Canadian territory,” the dossier says.
It adds that victims are predominantly non-political individuals with no criminal or ideological affiliations, primarily small traders, shopkeepers, small businessmen, and entertainers. They are identified through financial profiling conducted by local criminal foot soldiers, enabling overseas-based operators to target them and apply coercion through threats to life, family members, and property.
“Extortion demands typically involve large sums of money, conveyed through anonymous international calls, VoIP services, and encrypted digital platforms, with perpetrators operating remotely from Canada. The threats accompanying these demands include shootings at residences, grenade attacks on commercial establishments, targeted killings, and intimidation of family members. In multiple cases, when demands are not met, these threats have been carried out,” the dossier adds.
Goldy Brar’s parents, Shamsher Singh, who is a former Punjab Police assistant sub-inspector, and Preetpal Kaur, were arrested on January 26 in Amritsar in a 2024 extortion case and later released on bail.
The Muktsar police arrested the couple from a hotel in Amritsar. They reside in Adesh Nagar, Muktsar, though the family originally belongs to Faridkot. Police officials say Shamsher Singh had been compulsorily retired in 2021 after earlier allegations of helping his son.
The district and sessions judge granted Preetpal Kaur bail in March this year on a Rs 60,000 bond. Her husband remained in custody at the time because he had not yet filed his application. The court granted Shamsher Singh regular bail in May this year. An audio clip purportedly from Goldy Brar surfaced after the arrests, threatening police authorities for arresting his parents.
