US Indictment of Bishnoi a Silver Lining—and Dark Cloud—for Modi Government; Cover-Up Seen in Bengal Police Killing of Rape Accused
For subscribers: One day in the life of a tired republic, Modi and the power of 8; Denial of passport to those purged from voters’ list seems the new norm
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Snapshot of the day
July 8, 2026
Siddharth Varadarajan
The Modi government may see a silver lining in Tuesday’s US indictment of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, insisting it has always sought US-Canadian action against transnational criminal gangs, but how far is New Delhi prepared to go in taking this indictment to its logical conclusion? As the India Cable noted yesterday, Canadian officials have long linked Bishnoi to the Indian government. Even now, they are at pains to stress the Canadian end of the Hardeep Singh Nijjar murder investigation is continuing and that the latest indictments should not be seen as having any bearing on what Ottawa had publicly alleged earlier, when Justin Trudeau was prime minister. [See Reportedly]
While the Mark Carney government has consciously sought a reset with New Delhi and sees little need to publicly repeat that charge, the Indian side knows the spectre of Nijjar has not gone away. Officially, the Modi government can say the US claim that Bishnoi got Nijjar killed means this was a classic gangland hit rather than an example of ‘transnational repression’ as Canadian officials had earlier alleged. But given the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s view that Bishnoi has been “acting on behalf of the Indian government”, the political leadership in New Delhi will not be keen for Bishnoi to end up in American custody.
Asked by CBC how the latest charges would stop Bishnoi from orchestrating his organisation’s activities from an Indian prison where he is currently held, Lisa Morland, RCMP Deputy Commissioner, said:
“So what I think is that the charges that were brought forward today, obviously under the RICO laws in the United States, it brings through that, as stated today, that they will bring him forward for extradition to get him moved forward into face charges in the United States… By removing Bishnoi and his senior leadership from there, we believe it’s going to have a direct impact on public safety here in Canada and abroad.”
US officials have also spoken of the need to bring Bishnoi from India to a US supermax prison but how will the extradition process play out? V Venkatesan looks at the complexities involved:
“Can a man already lodged in an Indian prison be taken to an American courtroom to face trial? The answer is: legally, yes, but practically, it’s complicated.”
West Bengal police early today killed Prabhas Mondal, a key accused in the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in Baruipur, saying they shot him after he snatched a pistol from an officer and fired one round at them before trying to flee. That fits the textbook template of an ‘encounter’, many instances of which are suspected to have been staged by the police in a bid to dish out instant punishment in unsavoury cases.
The ruling BJP has celebrated Mondal’s killing as ‘divine justice’ but questions abound over what the police have done. Apart from the fact that fake encounters are patently illegal, Mondal was reportedly seen walking with the girl shortly before she disappeared, and is since alleged to have said he lured the girl to a particular location after being promised Rs 10,000 by another accused, Ananda Sardar. His statement “strongly points to a pre-planned abduction”, but his encounter “just as the investigation was poised to unravel this broader network” severs its most important link, Aparna Bhattacharya notes. As for the police, they have not explained why they were reconstructing the scene of the crime with Mondal in the middle of the night, and are yet to release any footage showing Mondal trying to flee.
‘Human rights protests’ are set to greet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Australia, the Guardian reports, as he begins his first visit to the country in three years from today. Modi is scheduled to attend the Australia-India Annual Leaders’ Summit in Melbourne and a community event later this
