Goldy Brar Gives 'Interview' Days After 'Arrest': Here's What US Authorities Say

Barely a few days after Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said that gangster Goldy Brar – the alleged mastermind behind the murder of Sidhu Moose Wala – has been detained in the United States, questions have started emerging over these claims.

This is mainly due to lack of any documentary proof given by the Punjab government to back its claim, as well as the absence of any confirmation from authorities in the United States. Even the Union government in India, which is the entity authorised to negotiate extradition, hasn't said anything on the matter so far.

Meanwhile, an independent YouTube channel has put out an interview of someone claiming to be Goldy Brar, saying that he has not been arrested in the United States and is a "free man."

The Quint spoke to authorities at different levels in the United States to find out if he has been detained or arrested and if so, where he is currently.

This article will focus on three aspects:

1. What we found out from authorities in the United States

2. What the person claiming to be Goldy Brar has said in his interview

3. What are the various questions that are being raised around the 'detention' or 'arrest' of Goldy Brar?

What Authorities in the United States Said

Since the arrest of a fugitive foreign national would could potentially involve several law enforcement agencies in the United States, we reached out to the Federal Bureau of Investigation field office, the Fresno County Sheriff (since initial reports said he had been detained in Fresno), Fresno City Police, Sacramento County Sheriff, ICE detention centres.

We also made these queries with different possible names for Goldy Brar - such as Satinderjit Singh, Satinder Singh, Satvinder Singh and Goldy Brar.

• Tony Botti, Public Information Officer at the Fresno County Sheriff's Office said that he is not aware of any operation or incident involving any alleged arrest of an Indian fugitive in the last few weeks, nor was any one by the name of Satinderjit Singh, or Satvinder Singh, or Goldy Brar being held in their local jail.

• Botti asked the local team of US Marshalls Fugitive Task Force, who too denied being in the know of any such incident of arrest. US Marshalls are teams that are located across the country, and are used by federal agencies for apprehending federal fugitives, housing, and transporting federal prisoners.

• The Fresno City Police also was unaware of the presence or arrest of any Indian fugitive in the last few weeks.

• Lieutenant Rod Grassman, spokesperson of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office said, "This is not going to be a Sheriff’s Case – please reach out to the primary agency for information. If he is wanted in another country for homicide – I would think the FBI would be primary.

• We checked ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) detention centres for the past three days, for inmates by the names mentioned above. It yielded no results.

• We searched for these names on online inmate locators for multiple California counties including Fresno, Sacramento, San Francisco, Merced, Madera, and Mariposa, and again, the names did not come up.

• A police official told The Quint that there are no federal facilities locally in the area where an arrested criminal in this sort of a case can be held. The only possibilities are local jails and ICE detention centres, both of which yielded no results.

• We checked online court listings in the area whether someone with any of the above names was brought before a judge. The names did not come up.

• We reached out to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Sacramento Field Office requesting for information (and for a call back from the PIO). We also submitted a request online under the eFOIPA (Freedom of Information and Privacy Act). A response from FBI to the eFOIPA request said the FBI could "neither confirm nor deny that such records exist" as the information requested "on third party individuals could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy." The Sacramento Field Office said in an email that "the statement that the FBI had Mr Brar in custody was incorrect."

• We checked with local Punjabi channels as well as a number of Gurdwara committees in Fresno and Sacramento on whether they have heard of any such arrest. None of the people we spoke to had heard of any such arrest or detention.

Now, this is not an exhaustive list of possible authorities involved and we are continuously reaching out to more. But this is what we have found out so far.

'Goldy Brar' Gives an Interview

Meanwhile, a person claiming to by Goldy Brar gave an interview to senior crime journalist based in Punjab, Ritesh Lakhi, who has been tracking the Sidhu Moose Wala case closely. These are the relevant quotes from what the person claiming to be Goldy Brar told Lakhi:

• "I am fine and I have not been arrested."

• "I am not in any American city or Canada. I am in Europe."

• "You won't see me getting arrested ever. I would much rather die than get arrested."

• "The Punjab chief minister is misleading people by saying I have been detained."

• "I coordinated the killing of (gangster) Raju Theth in Rajasthan. How could I have done that if I had been detained in the US?"

Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi's lawyer Vishal Chopra also told the media that Goldy Brar has not been arrested and that this news is wrong.

Brar is a key member of Bishnoi's gang.

What We Know, What We Don't

• The lack of any positive response from any authority in the US does indicates a likelihood that Goldy Brar isn't under arrest or detention in the US. However, we are not in a position to say that authoritatively until we get a confirmed response from the FBI.

• The 'interview' given by Goldy Brar may or may not be genuine. The journalist who has done the interview has also given the same caveat. Also if the interview is genuine, we can't still take the claim of Brar not being in North America at face value. That could be an attempt to mislead Indian authorities. It is also possible that he was detained and let off.

• The claim of Brar being involved in coordinating Raju Theth's murder also cannot be taken at face value. Lawrence Bishnoi gang is a large criminal network and it is not necessary that Brar is involved in every killing, no matter what is being claimed.

• There is indeed a Punjab police team that has been tracking Brar's movements in North America. But it is not clear if they had any role in his current 'arrest/detention' or whether it even happened in the first place.

• The Punjab government is yet to provide any documentary proof of Goldy Brar's arrest or detention in the US. If he has been arrested, there would be some kind of identification number, picture or document to support it. So far nothing of that sort has been provided by the Punjab government.

• There is no word from the centre on whether any agency from the US has approached them regarding Brar's arrest. The CBI is the agency that coordinates Red Corner Notices. So far, there is no word from the agency regarding Brar's alleged arrest.