The Bishnoi network, designated a terrorist entity by Canada in September 2025, is no longer only a Punjab or Mumbai law-and-order problem. Its alleged North American lieutenant, Goldy Brar, is on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list with a reward of up to $1 million. Yet Lawrence Bishnoi, 33, remains in a Gujarat prison, reportedly running operations through concealed phones and encrypted messaging apps.
The current campaign
Recent incidents have concentrated on Hindi cinema. Gunmen injured the driver of actor Tiger Shroff in Mumbai; shots were earlier fired at Salman Khan’s apartment and filmmaker Rohit Shetty’s Mumbai home. Actor Ranveer Singh reportedly received an extortion demand of nearly $1.1 million, and a Surrey, Canada cafe owned by comedian Kapil Sharma was struck by gunfire three times.
Police have not confirmed Bishnoi’s role in every attack, but the pattern fits the network’s wider campaign. An audio message after the Shroff incident warned that anyone who works without “aligning” with the gang, or who works with Salman Khan, “will be killed.”
Why Bollywood is the target
Former Mumbai Police Commissioner D. Sivanandhan describes the strategy in blunt terms: “They are using Bollywood as an ATM. Insert a card and collect your money.” The target is cash-rich and lightly defended, a “soft underbelly.” The structure is different from the old syndicates. Where Dawood Ibrahim, Abu Salem and Chhota Shakeel embedded themselves in film financing to launder money, the Bishnoi gang recruits mostly young, economically desperate men online, using the imprisoned leader’s “lore” as its pitch.
- Canada designated the Bishnoi network a terrorist entity in September 2025.
- Goldy Brar is on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list; US authorities offer up to $1 million for information.
- Shots have targeted Salman Khan’s apartment, Rohit Shetty’s home, Tiger Shroff’s driver, and Kapil Sharma’s Surrey cafe.
- Ranveer Singh reportedly received an extortion demand of nearly $1.1 million.
The 1990s shadow
The memory of the old Mumbai syndicates is why this matters. At the peak in 1998, Sivanandhan says 101 businessmen were shot dead in a single year, roughly one every three days, mostly over extortion demands. The 1997 murder of T-Series founder Gulshan Kumar and the 2000 shooting of filmmaker Rakesh Roshan showed how film money and violence used to mix. A crackdown and a 1999 organised crime law broke that grip.
Crime journalist S. Hussain Zaidi cautions against calling the current threats a full resurgence. Digital payments, he argues, have made large cash transactions far harder to conceal, which changes the economics of organised crime.
What happens next
The All India Cine Workers Association president, Suresh Shyamlal Gupta, has written to Home Minister Amit Shah warning that leading industry figures may leave Mumbai if the fear persists. Stars have already tightened personal security. The open question is whether India’s authorities can contain a network that operates across continents from behind prison walls.
Source: Foreign Policy Journal
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