Gangsters or Khalistanis? What's the Truth Behind 17 Men Arrested in California?

The men arrested include Pavitar Singh and Husandeep Singh, who are wanted for crimes in Punjab.

Pavitar Singh and Husandeep Singh have been arrested in California. 

(File Photo Altered by Vibhushita Singh/The Quint)

(This story was first published at 9.59 AM IST on 20 April. It has now been updated after the response from the District Attorney of Sutter County, California)

In a major crackdown, 17 men of Indian-origin were arrested in California in the United States on 17 April in connection with a series of violent incidents in the Northern part of the state. The first of these incidents took place in 2018 and the latest one was a clash near a Gurdwara in Sacramento in March 2023.

The investigation, which was conducted over two years, was called 'Operation Broken Sword' - named after a broken sword recovered from the crime scene during the 2018 incident.

Two of the men arrested happen to be fugitive gangsters from Punjab - Pavitar Singh and Husandeep Singh.

A number of Indian journalists and news outfits have claimed that the arrested individuals were Khalistanis. However, The Quint spoke to District Attorney of Sutter County, Jennifer Dupre, who said that the 17 arrested men are "not involved in the Khalistan movement and do not adhere to the Khalistani ideology". More details on that here.

This story will try and examine three questions:

1. Who are the persons arrested and what crimes are they accused of?

2. Who are Pavitar Singh and Husandeep Singh? What is their connection to gangs based out of Punjab?

3. Are the arrests linked to Khalistani mobilisation, as claimed by a few Indian media houses?

Who Are the People Arrested and What Are They Accused of?

These are some of the incidents that were probed.

• November 2018: Fist-fights and sword-fights at the Sikh parade in Yuba City, Sutter County

• September 2021: Shooting at a wedding party in Yuba City, Sutter County

• August 2022: Shooting outside a Gurdwara in Stockton, San Joaquin County

• December 2022: Shooting at Woodland, Yolo County

• Shooting outside a Gurdwara in Sacramento, 26 March 2023.

• Six other shootings in Sacramento besides the March 2023 incident.

This is not an exhaustive list. Investigators say they are probing several other incidents that could be possibly linked to the same gangs.

Based on a press conference conducted by the officials, the men arrested are:

• Armandeep Singh, Gurvinder Singh, Nitish Kaushal, Harmandeep Singh, Gurminder Singh Kang, Devender Singh, Gursharn Singh, and Gurcharan Singh were arrested in connection with the clash outside the Nagar Kirtan in March 2023. They have been charged with criminal conspiracy to commit attempted murder.

• Sahajpreet Singh, Harkirat Singh, Tirath Ram, Pavittar Singh and Husandeep Singh were arrested in connection with the Woodland shooting incident of December 2022.

• Karandeep Singh and Pardeep Singh - were arrested for the attempted murder of Amandeep Singh at a wedding party in Yuba City on 27 September 2021.

• Jaskaran Singh was arrested for possession of child pornography and possession of an assault weapon.

• Karambir Gill of Yuba City, was arrested on suspicion of being an illegal firearms dealer

District Attorney of Sutter County, Jennifer Dupre, said at the press conference that members of two criminal syndicates were responsible for the escalating violence, known as Minta and the AK-47 Group. They were initially part of one group before they splintered in rival factions.

The officials said that a bloodbath could have taken place at the Sikh parade had law enforcement agencies not acted promptly.

Who Are Pavitar Singh and Husandeep Singh?

Arrested in connection with the December 2022 Woodland shooting, Pavitar Singh and Husandeep Singh are fugitive gangsters from Punjab.

They operated mainly in the Majha region of Punjab and were connected to the Jaggu Bhagwanpuria gang, who in turn was an ally of the Lawrence Bishnoi-Goldy Brar gang but they have recently had a falling out.

Pavitar Singh and his gang, which includes Husandeep Singh, were accused of being involved in the murder of a labourer Mandeep Singh of Pandori village near Batala on 19 November 2019. The same day, their gang sprayed bullets on one Triptpal at Jijiani village near Amritsar.

Their gang member Harwinder Sandhu took responsibility of both acts through a Facebook post. He said that Mandeep was killed due to an old enmity while Triptpal was allegedly attacking one of the men aligned to the gang.

Are the Arrests Linked to Khalistani Mobilsation?

A number of media outlets like News18 and Firstpost as well as journalist Priyanka Deo Jain, have claimed that the people arrested were linked to Khalistanis.

The News18 report goes to the extent of calling it part of a 'diabolical business model of Pakistan-based Khalistani groups'.

Is there any truth to this?

We posed this query to the officials who led this investigation.

In an email reply to The Quint, District Attorney of Sutter County Jennifer Dupre said, "These men, and their groups, are NOT associated with the Khalistan movement and do NOT adhere to the Khalistani ideology" (Emphasis hers).

On being shown specific news reports from India alleging that the arrested men are pro-Khalistan, Dupre replied, "Any such reports are pure conjecture and are not based in any way on facts from our case".

According to her, the violent incidents were the result of the rivalry between warring factions of a criminal syndicate involved in illicit activities such as dealing in firearms and violent crimes.

During the press conference on 17 April, Dupre said that, "They would basically show up to places and try to shoot each other".

None of the agencies involved in the probe mentioned any possible angle of militancy or any ideology behind the violence.

At the press conference, the DA of Sacremento Thien Ho said that the violence doesn't reflect the Sikh community at all. He said, "The investigation and the charges filed in connection with the violence do not in any way reflect or represent the vibrant Sikh community in the region".

He said leaders of the Sikh community in Northern California have condemned this violence again and again.

In the absence of any observation from the investigators about Khalistani links, any such allegations appears to be nothing but conjecture. It seems to be in line with a larger trend in sections of the Indian media of bringing the 'Khalistan' angle on any development related to Sikhs.

The Quint has also reached out to the DA of Sacramento, the Sacramento Sheriff's Office and the Yuba City police chief on this particular allegation. We will update the copy as and when they respond.

The issue here is not the Khalistan angle. The main question is - how are Indian gangsters able to easily reach countries like the US and Canada, make linkages with local criminals and continue with their activities?

Sidhu Moose Wala murder accused Goldy Brar was also said to be in the US. More recently a video of another accused Anmol Bishnoi partying in California went viral.