An Indian-origin man, Jasmeet Singh, has been charged in California, US, for issuing death threats to a Canada-based person who assisted Indian law enforcement agencies in identifying two Lawrence Bishnoi gang blackmailers, who were trying to extort money from him.
As per the documents filed in the US court, Jasmeet Singh made repeated threatening calls to the victim, who had moved to Canada due to safety concerns from the Bishnoi gang. The FBI came to know about the case in Sacramento after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) confirmed that Singh had threatened to kill the victim over WhatsApp on May 27, 2024. Jasmeet was in the US when he made the repeated threatening calls to the victim.
The caller in the threatening calls identified himself as “Lucky Horshiarpur,” who was later found out to be Jasmeet Singh by the agencies. Notably, Hoshiarpur happens to be Singh’s native village in India. The court documents reportedly stated that Singh made a series of threatening calls to the victim on May 27, 2024. During the third call, he turned on his video and showed his face to the victim. Singh allegedly threatened the victim with bodily harm and said that he would be killed for cooperating with Indian law enforcement.
As per reports, Singh said to the victim, “…you’re going to die in Canada,” and sent the victim a photo of the victim’s car parked outside his residence. A 14-page criminal complaint written by FBI agent Brian Troy stated that “Singh sent this photo to reinforce that the threat he was making to Victim 1 was backed up by the ability to carry out the threat”. The complaint added, “In particular, the photo is circumstantial proof that, although Singh said he was in the United States, Singh has associates in Canada who were able to obtain a photo of Victim 1’s (the victim) vehicle.”
Following a chain of incidents linked to extortion-linked violence in Canada, the Canadian government listed the Bishnoi Gang as a terrorist entity accused of “terror, violence, and intimidation” in September this year.
The Bishnoi Gang targeted the victim in July 2022
The victim was targeted by the Lawrence Bishnoi Gang in July 2022, when he lived in India. He befriended a woman and her associate, who blackmailed the victim using fake rape allegations and demanded the equivalent of $239,000. When the victim did not pay, he received a phone call from local police who informed him about rape allegations filed against him. The victim told the police about the blackmailers and helped the police arrest them. In January 2024, the victim moved to Canada, while the blackmailers were charged in India in May 2024. The day the blackmailers were charged, the victim received multiple threats within a couple of hours.
