Canada's curious stand on Goldy Brar, from 'most wanted' to quiet drop from the list in one year

Amid the brewing diplomatic row between India and Canada, it has been revealed that wanted Indian fugitive gangster, Satinderjit Singh, alias Goldy Brar’s name was quietly removed from Canada’s top most-wanted list in April, this year. The revelation was first made by recalled Indian High Commissioner to Canada, Sanjay Kumar, last month.

“When we were discussing on the government channel (with Canada), we shared the name of Goldy Brar who is also on our list for extradition. In the Canadian system, the RCMP doesn’t bring out any wanted list. But there is a civic organisation ‘Bolo’ which in back-channel consultation with authorities in Canada they take out list of 10 most wanted persons. Next time we looked at the same list, it was all gone. What happened?” Verma told ANI in October.

After the remarks from the recalled Indian official stirred headlines, Canadian authorities told The Print that Brar’s name was dropped from the list to “make room for recent cases”. Brar is wanted in several cases in India including the murder of singer Sidhu Moosewala, killing of Dera Sacha Sauda follower Pardeep Singh, and for sending threats to Bollywood actor Salman Khan, among others.

More from World

Nepal's new PM pays homage to people died during the Gen Z protest in her first national address This Week in Explainers: How recovering from Gen-Z protests is a Himalayan task for Nepal

In January 2024, The Ministry of Home Affairs declared the Canada-based gangster a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Brar is getting attention recently due to his association with gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. The jailed Indian gangster was accused by Canada of being used by Indian agents for conducting hits on foreign soil.

The name added to list publicly but dropped silently

On May 2, 2023, Canadian High Commission in Delhi announced the addition of Brar’s name to the list. However, no such announcements were made when his name was dropped. While responding to The Print via email, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), said that the gangster’s name appeared on the wanted list of the BOLO (be on the lookout) Program. The entity is a charitable organisation that works closely with the Canadian authorities.

Impact Shorts

More Shorts

‘The cries of this widow will echo’: In first public remarks, Erika Kirk warns Charlie’s killers they’ve ‘unleashed a fire’

Trump urges Nato to back sanctions on Russia, calls for 50–100% tariffs on China

“This is a Program supported by a charitable organization, not the RCMP. The RCMP works with BOLO on an ongoing basis and encourages anyone with information on the whereabouts of this or any other fugitive to contact appropriate authorities,” RCMP told The Print in its response.

Meanwhile, BOLO made it clear that Brar’s name was added as an “exception” since the list only includes names of Canadian fugitives. They also maintained that it was the RCMP that submitted the case to the body. “This was the exception used for the Brar case when the RCMP submitted the case to us in 2023 (sic),” BOLO said in an email response. “As a result, BRAR was featured on our Top 25 for about 1 year. We don’t really know more. We’re not privy to investigations,” they added.

BOLO maintained that the Indian gangster’s name was removed from its list earlier this year, just like several other most wanted individuals. They emphasised that the list is updated once a year just to keep it updated.

It is pertinent to note that the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs issued a gazetted notification in which they said that Brar is associated with the banned Khalistani organisation Babbar Khalsa International.

With inputs from agencies.