Guns, swords and pepper spray: Bishnoi-linked extortionists attacked in apparent retaliation
On an afternoon in early October 2025, a van full of masked attackers pulled into the parking lot of a Calgary college and ambushed a group of young men caught napping in a white Mustang.
They pepper-sprayed one victim in the face. Police later found a baseball bat and sword at the scene.
The attackers even recorded the confrontation — sending a video to the parents of one victim, Kawanmeet Singh, to warn them about "what their son was doing and what behaviour he was engaging in."
According to documents obtained by CBC News, Singh was an alleged extortionist — leader of a previously unreported Bishnoi gang cell tied to multiple shootings, arsons and threats in Alberta and British Columbia.
'Baweja gang' members identified
The attack on Singh and his associates is detailed in a trove of new Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) documents disclosed to CBC News through a series of federal Access to Information requests.
IRB transcripts reveal both the existence of Singh's organization — known as the Baweja group — as well as new information from an insider about the Canadian operations of the larger transnational gang Lawrence Bishnoi has led from an Indian jail cell since 2015.
The confidential informant told police the gangsters are essentially laughing at the Canadian justice system, knowing the harshest penalty they're likely to face is deportation and a free ticket back to India.
One of a series of images taken from the phone of an alleged extortionist by police. This image is part of a trove of Immigration and Refugee Board documents released to CBC News through an Access to Information request. (CBC News)
Taken together, the documents provide insight into the inner workings of the linked extortion cells moving weapons, vehicles and people across Canada — as well as violence erupting on the periphery of the extortion networks.
Although public reports of extortion-related shootings have slowed in recent months, criminal cases and admissibility hearings involving the extortionists are proceeding at full pace.
Alleged Baweja group members Kawanmeet Singh, Ekamjot Singh and Sukhdeep Singh were all found inadmissible to Canada, because of organized criminality, during separate IRB hearings this summer in Vancouver and Toronto.
A hearing for a fourth alleged Baweja group member — Rohit Nain — is slated for January.
"These four names do appear repeatedly throughout independent police investigations by various agencies. This includes the RCMP, Calgary Police Services, the Surrey Police Service and the CBSA," a lawyer for the Ministry of Public Safety told Ekamjot Singh's hearing.
"They share vehicles, residences, they travel together across the country. They've also been encountered repeatedly during police investigations into various criminal offences that are directly linked to extortion cases."
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'Shady individuals'
Kawanmeet Singh, Ekamjot Singh and Sukhdeep Singh all came to Canada on study permits.
Like the vast majority of alleged Bishnoi gang associates, they are officially referred to by the last name Singh — one of the most common surnames in India — in immigration proceedings.
But for some — like Kawanmeet Singh — Singh turns out to be a middle name.
According to the IRB documents, Kawanmeet Singh's actual surname is Baweja, the name his associates came to identify with his alleged Bishnoi cell.
Police officers escort Lawrence Bishnoi, right, inside a courthouse in New Delhi, India, on April 18, 2023. The Bishnoi gang has taken responsibility for hundreds of extortion attacks across Canada. (Rahul Singh/ANI/Reuters)
The group came under intense scrutiny after the October 2025 college parking lot incident, which police said appeared "to be a planned and retaliatory attack on the Baweja group by members of another gang."
"A van pulled up in front of them and eight or nine people jumped out and charged the victims with weapons," a government lawyer told Kawanmeet Singh's hearing.
"Ekamjot was pepper sprayed and he got into the Mustang and tried to flee, colliding with the attacker's van, a concrete barrier and other parked cars."
'Shady individuals'
According to the IRB documents, police believe the parking lot attack was the work of a rival gang.
The source of the dispute is unclear, but previous IRB records obtained by CBC News have noted other incidents of factional violence — including a shooting in Edmonton — between Bishnoi foot soldiers.
The Canada Border Service Agency's tactical guide to the gang also notes a split between Lawrence Bishnoi and former top lieutenant Goldy Brar — who himself came to Canada on a student visa before vanishing as a wanted man.
Police investigate the scene of a shooting in Surrey in October 2025. A Bishnoi cell known as the Baweja group has been tied to multiple instances of violence in B.C. and Alberta. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
In the hours immediately after the parking lot attack, the Baweja group was allegedly back at work — linked to another extortion-related shooting on the opposite side of Calgary
A car belonging to another group member was caught on CCTV video near a residence, where an assailant pumped nine bullets into a Jeep in the middle of the night.
"When police attend[ed] the home to speak with the owner of the car, there [were] two other individuals in that home that readily advised police that they have been victims of extortion at the behest of the Bishnoi organization," a member of the IRB told Sukhdeep Singh's hearing.
"Further investigation by police reveal[ed] that the owner of the vehicle advised police of his concerns regarding a number of individuals, including yourself ... and you are all referred to as 'shady indviduals.'"
'Call me back'
CCTV footage and ballistic evidence would tie the group and their vehicles to a series of incidents that took place in the Calgary area prior to the parking lot attack, starting with a shooting at a restaurant in September 2025.
The restaurant owner told police he received a WhatsApp call from someone claiming to represent the Bishnoi gang.
"Call me back, otherwise this can happen at your residence next time," the message said. "Call me back when you get up in the morning."
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Threats from the same number were linked to shootings at the home and business of the owner of a Calgary tire shop.
"He told police he received multiple calls on his personal and business numbers and the offenders demanded 700,000 dollars and threatened further violence," the IRB documents state.
Forensic evidence showed the same firearm was used at both scenes. Spent casings from the gun were allegedly found alongside a ski mask and Ekamjot Singh's identity documents during a search of the room he shared with Rohit Nain.
According to the IRB documents, the shell casings were also a match for nine other extortion shootings — including one in a series of high-profile attacks at Kap's Cafe in Surrey.
Cross-Canada connections
Owned by Indian celebrity Kapil Sharma, Kap's Cafe has been the frequent target of shootings attributed to Bishnoi through Goldy Dhillon, identified as a kind of North American sub-contractor for the gang.
Shell casings from another shooting at Kap's Cafe also proved instrumental in busting another, separate Bishnoi cell operating out of Edmonton last year.
Multiple members of that group have since been deported from Canada.
Police investigate one of a series of extortion shootings at Surrey's Kap's Cafe. Shell casings from the scene have been tied to guns used by at least two separate Bishnoi cells. (Ethan Cairns/CBC)
The Baweja group's members also appear to have moved frequently between Alberta, B.C and Ontario.
According to the IRB documents, Calgary police arrested Kawanmeet Singh after a brutal assault in a Tim Hortons parking lot on Oct. 13, 2025.
The victim claimed he had been the victim of extortion threats, including messages containing pictures of firearms. He was knocked to the ground and his teeth were kicked in by a group of five or six people who then fled in a variety of vehicles.
Kawanmeet Singh was intercepted behind the wheel of someone else's pickup truck.
"The owner of that vehicle readily admitted that he had lent the car to Mr. [Kawanmeet] and that he had refused to give it back and was now threatening the owner," the documents read.
"And while that car was quite obviously stolen, the owner of that car was very hesitant in reporting that vehicle stolen."
The IRB documents say the Baweja gang has ties to multiple suspects in other extortion cases — including two of the 19 people Calgary police have charged with extortion-related offences — including a planned kidnapping.
"The Baweja sub-group has evidentiary links to multiple extortions and firearm-related offences, not only in Calgary, but in other jurisdictions across Canada," said a police report quoted verbatim at the IRB hearing.
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The report said the Baweja gang members fit a larger profile.
"They are mostly young, East Indian individuals, predominantly arriving on study permits, who often trace their association to friendships formed studying in Canada, or existing friendships they formed in India," the report said.
"The individuals in this sub-group are highly mobile, frequently moving addresses and travelling to Calgary and Surrey, Edmonton and Brampton. The individuals in this group frequently pose with firearms, real and imitation, and openly mock and challenge police."
'They will simply be deported'
The latest IRB documents cite a confidential informant who told police about the gang's inner workings after being "offered money to shoot a video of someone conducting these criminal activities."
"Shooters received their instructions electronically, firearms are left in vehicles for them to use, they are required to provide video proof of the actual attacks or arsons, and payment follows completion of the acts," the informant told authorities.
"Unauthorized use of the Bishnoi name is very uncommon because the organization ... strictly controls the use of their personal brand and there are some very serious consequences if you use it without their permission."
Bullet holes are seen in the glass at Surrey, B.C.'s Radio Swift 1200 AM. The station was the subject of an extortion attack from the leader of Hood 420, another Bishnoi cell identified by CBC News. (Nav Rahi/CBC)
IRB and police documents suggest the existence of multiple cells operating within Canada under the larger umbrella of Lawrence Bishnoi's operation.
CBC News has reported on the existence of Hood 420 — yet another separate cell tied to a shooting at a Surrey radio station.
The confidential witness cited in the IRB documents said the gang recruits through existing street gangs like Surrey's Ruffians and independent sub-groups made of Indian nationals on study permits.
"Only those individuals who are trusted are recruited, and trust is built by the so-called students living together in the same home or apartment," the IRB documents read.
"These individuals are not afraid of Canadian police because the criminal justice system is considered by them to grind slowly and many know that they will simply be deported from Canada without more."
'I want to get back to my parents'
According to the IRB transcripts, Kawanmeet Singh, Ekamjot Singh and Sukhdeep Singh all denied any involvement with the Bishnoi gang.
"Because of my personal circumstances, my financial difficulties, my association with these people in school and the college, I got stuck with these people. I got involved with these people," Ekamjot Singh told his admissibility hearing.
"However, the activities of the Baweja group or anybody else who does that, I take no part in it. I had no interest in it. It was just my circumstances that got me involved with these people."
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Sukhdeep Singh insisted that he was the victim of a terrible misunderstanding.
"You maintained that this is a case of mistaken identity, that you are not the person of interest, but rather there is another individual who is noted throughout the disclosure who has the same name as you," the IRB tribunal member said.
"Your counsel has argued that this other Sukhdeep Singh is the one who was found in possession of a firearm that may or may not have been used in a number of crimes, and that this is further evidence of a mistake."
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For his part, accused gang leader Kawanmeet Singh, who has a tattoo of an AK-47 on his neck, insisted that "there is no such group as Baweja group."
"I do not even wish to stay in Canada," he told his IRB hearing, speaking from immigration custody.
"Wherever I am, you know, lodged right now, I am finding it really very, very difficult to stay here. I want to get back to my parents. So that is it. I may please be sent back to my parents."
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