09072026-TTC-01.qxd 7/9/2026 12:50 AM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 146 NO. 188 | 14 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 FORMER CM CHANNI REAFFIRMS LOYALTY TO RAHUL PUNJAB /thetribunechd ECO FACTORS BEHIND EARLY MELTING OF AMARNATH LINGAM J&K ‘PB ENROLMENT RATIO BJP SUPPORTERS BEAT LOWER THAN NATIONAL UP TMC WORKERS AT AVERAGE’ BACK PAGE PROTEST: DIDI NATION thursday | 9 july 2026 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com US indicts gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, Pb deserves whole truth, not half story: Bittu on ‘Satluj’ row Goldy Brar for Nijjar’s killing in Canada Nabs 24 in crackdown on India-based syndicates Ujwal Jalali Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 8 The US has, for the first time in a federal indictment, alleged that jailed Indian gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and his close aide Satinderjeet Singh, alias Goldy Brar, ordered the June 2023 assassination of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. The allegation figures in one of three indictments unsealed under Operation Hard Ball, a coordinated crackdown by law enforcement agencies from the US, Canada and Europe against India-based transnational organised crime syndicates, in which 24 persons have been arrested. According to the US Department of Justice, Bishnoi and Brar directed the killing of Nijjar — identified in court documents as “HSN” — who was shot dead by two gunmen outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18, 2023. Significantly, a senior Canadian police official on Wednesday contradicted former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s 2023 remarks alleging a “potential link” between agents of the Indian government and the killing of Nijjar, saying there was “no evidence” to support such a claim. Trudeau’s remarks had triggered a sharp deterioration in India-Canada relations, including reciprocal expulsions of diplomats, disruption continued on page 8 edit: global crackdown EDfreezesTrinamool’s ~440-crore bank deposits under PMLA KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: The ED on Wednesday said it has frozen three bank accounts of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), holding deposits worth Rs 440 crore, under the anti-money laundering law following searches in an alleged funds misappropriation case. The TMC called the ED’s act politically motivated, arbitrary and illegal. INSIDE Tragedy averted as 2 planes come face to faceatMumbaiairport NEW DELHI: A potential runway incursion was averted at the Mumbai airport on Tuesday night when a Delhi-bound Air India flight aborted takeoff on ATC instructions after an Air India Express aircraft had not fully vacated the runway. Flight AI816 was accelerating for departure to Delhi when the crew was asked to reject takeoff. No injuries or damage were reported. — TNS Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist killed in Shopian encounter SRINAGAR: A LeT militant was killed in an encounter between militants and security forces in south Kashmir’s Shopian district. Police officials said the encounter broke out in Channapora village of Shopian after security forces launched a cordon-and-search operation in the village following specific inputs about the presence of terrorists in the village. INSIDE Pb shifts SHO after FBI’s $4L extortion bid charge ordered a departmental inquiry into the allegations. Tribune News Service First Assistant US Attorney New Delhi/Hoshiarpur, July 8 Bill Essayli alleged that the A Punjab Police Station SHO was part of an extortion House Officer (SHO) has conspiracy linked to the Jagcome under the scanner of the gu Bhagwanpuria organised US Federal Bureau crime syndicate. of Investigation “He was going to (FBI), which has charge their family accused him of in India for murder. attempting to extort I think he did actu$4,00,000 from a USally file murder based family by charges against the threatening to impli- Gurinderjit S Nagra family in India until cate its members in a the victim agreed to false murder case in India. pay money. We have charged The allegations surfaced him and we will extradite him during the announcement of to the US,” Essayli said. Operation Hard Ball. The According to the sevenofficer, identified by US count federal indictment authorities as Gurinderjit titled US vs Bhagwanpuria, Singh Nagra, SHO of Tanda et al., members of the Bhagpolice station in Hoshiarpur wanpuria syndicate cultivatdistrict, has since been trans- ed links with corrupt law ferred to the Police Lines, enforcement officials in continued on page 8 while the Punjab Police have Ujwal Jalali & Sanjiv Bakshi The nine-count indictment against Lawrence Bishnoi alleges he ran a global criminal syndicate using phones smuggled into jail. FILE FBI DECLARES $50K REWARD ON BRAR ■ Prosecutors said Bishnoi joint US-Canada-Europe crackdown on India-linked crime directed assassinations, murnetworks, 24 arrests ders, extortion, kidnappings, drug trafficking were made through his aides ■ Investigators seized ■ The FBI announced a nearly 1,000 kg reward of $50,000 for cocaine, heroin, arms information leading to and cash, linking operaGOLDY BRAR tions of the gangsters Goldy Brar’s arrest ■ Under Operation Hard Ball, a across North America 37 GANGSTERS CHARGED IN A SWEEPING US-LED CRACKDOWN ON TRANSNATIONAL ORGANISED CRIME NETWORKS NO PROOF OF INDIA’S ROLE IN NIJJAR KILLING: CANADA BACK PAGE US action puts Punjab gangsters in global spotlight FBI-led operation targets Bishnoi, Bhagwanpuria & Goldy Brar networks Jupinderjit Singh Tribune News Service Chandigarh, July 8 From student politics-level brawls to featuring in the case files of one of the world’s top investigating agencies, the FBI, the exploits and extortion rackets of Punjab’s gangsters have assumed gigantic proportions. This was under- lined by an FBI-led operation this week that has put three of the state’s most notorious gangsters — Lawrence Bishnoi, Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and Goldy Brar — in the crosshairs of American law enforcement. A former student of DAV College, Chandigarh, whose penchant for brawls landed him in the city’s infamous Burail Jail, from where he began expanding his narcogangster network, Bishnoi, along with Bhagwanpuria, is among 37 gangsters charged in a sweeping US-led crackdown on transnational organised crime networks. Along with his aide Satinderjeet Singh, alias Goldy Brar, Bishnoi was accused by the Canadian government in 2023 of orchestrating the assassination of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia. While Goldy remains at large, reportedly somewhere in the West, possibly the US, Bishnoi is lodged in an Ahmedabad jail. Bhagwanpuria is lodged in a jail in Assam. continued on page 8 MALKIAT SINGH Says Diljit Dosanjh won’t be allowed to ‘sully’ atmosphere THE TRIBUNE INTERVIEW Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Chandigarh, July 8 Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu, grandson of assassinated former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, has broken his silence on the row over “Satluj”, the Diljit Dosanjh-starrer film removed from OTT platform ZEE5 amid allegations by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab that he engineered its removal. In an exclusive interview with The Tribune, Bittu did not directly address the AAP’s charge but mounted a detailed defence of his grandfather’s legacy, arguing that the film offers a “one-sided narrative” of Punjab’s militancy years and that any honest reckoning with the period must account for the violence unleashed by militant groups, not only the actions of the state. “Punjab deserves the whole truth, not half the story,” Bittu said. A third generation Congressman, who had switched to the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which Modi to visit state on July17toinaugurate revampedrlystations Aparna Banerji Tribune News Service Ravneet Singh Bittu in Jalandhar. he unsuccessfully fought from his erstwhile Ludhiana seat, Bittu said the film’s treatment of the period skirted the full complexity of what Punjab went through in the 1980s and early 1990s. He pointed to human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, whose disappearance and killing remain central to the film’s narrative, asking why Khalra was able to continue his work and travel abroad during Beant Singh’s tenure if the government was suppressing dissent as depicted. “That question also deserves an honest answer,” he said. The Union Minister was emphatic that militancy could not be tied to any single community or faith. “Militancy has no religion. continued on page 8 Jalandhar, July 8 Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu said here on Wednesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would visit Punjab on July 17 for the inauguration of revamped railway stations, including the Rs 100-crore Jalandhar Cantt railway station. He said films such as “Satluj” must not be allowed to stoke divisions in the state and people should see what its makers were trying to do. Bittu said as long as people like him were around, Diljit Dosanjh, singer and lead actor of “Satuj”, would not be allowed to “sully the atmosphere” of the state. “Diljit’s money is involved in the film; that is why this propaganda is being carried out,” he said, adding that the Centre had no role in getting the film banned. Bittu lauded former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi for “standing his continued on page 8 PM GOES TO PRAMBANAN US, Iran exchange strikes as fragile truce faces threat; Sensex tanks 1,677 points Crude oil prices soar | Trump says ‘ceasefire over’, but let talks continue Ajay Banerjee Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 8 The United States and Iran launched missile strikes on each other on Wednesday, jeopardising the fragile three-week-old ceasefire and sparking fears of an all-out war in West Asia. The US also reimposed sanctions on Iran, sending oil prices soaring. Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, rose 6 per cent, to $78 a barrel. In India, Sensex and Nifty — the two major stock market indices — logged their biggest single-day decline in nearly three months. The BSE Sensex tanked 1,677.12 points, or 2.15 per cent, to settle at 76,503.60, while the NSE Nifty tumbled 516.65 points, The coffin of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is carried to the Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf (Iraq) on Wednesday. It will be taken to Khamenei’s hometown Mashhad for burial on Thursday. AP/PTI or 2.12 per cent, to end at 23,882.05. The stock market crash in India came after US President Donald Trump said the interim agreement with Iran was “over”. Speaking at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkiye, Trump said, “I might let my negotiators keep talking... but I personally believe it is a waste of time.” Both sides have blamed each other for breaking earlier agreements outlined in the June 17 memorandum of understanding (MoU), which initiated a 60-day peace negotiation process. The MoU allowed Tehran to sell crude oil amid the ongoing peace talks. The US said it had launched fresh strikes against Iran in retaliation for Tehran’s attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Later, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had targeted 85 US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait in response to the US attacks. It claimed to have targeted the US Fifth Naval Base at Port Salman in Bahrain and Kuwait’s Ali Salem Airbase continued on page 8 PM Narendra Modi and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto at the 9th century Prambanan Temple complex in Yogyakarta, marking the inauguration of a joint conservation project for the UNESCO heritage site. The temple complex is dedicated to Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva. PTI NEET (UG)-2027 to be held at 1,000 centres over 6 days New Delhi, July 8 The National Eligibility-cumEntrance Test (NEET-UG), which is set to transition to a computer-based test (CBT) from next year, is expected to be conducted over at least six days across more than 1,000 examination centres, sources said. The Centre decided to shift the examination from the traditional pen-and-paper format to CBT following the controversy over alleged paper leaks in the previous exam. — TNS EPFO 3.0 to allow 75% PF withdrawal through ATM Surya S Pillai Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 8 You will soon be able to withdraw as much as 75 per cent of the provident fund (PF) from your EPFO account through an ATM close to you. The government is in the process of streamlining old rules and doing away with unnecessary restrictions on your money. Under the new rules, the withdrawal limit has been Automated claim settlement for advances up to ~5 L ~1.44 LAKH CR INTEREST TO BE CREDITED BY JULY 15 The EPFO will credit over ~1.44 lakh crore annual interest at the rate of 8.25 per cent to 34 crore subscriber accounts by July 15. The announcement comes after the implementation of the Centralised IT-Enabled Services project of the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Earlier, it took until OctoberNovember for the interest to be credited to the accounts. raised from 50 to 75 per cent of the total PF balance. Top government sources said the EPFO portal, under the Centralised IT-Enabled Services project, would be up and running in a week after the last-minute glitches are c m y b resolved. The project is an initiative to modernise EPFO’s service delivery through automation and rule-based processing. “It is designed to enhance member convenience, improve EPFO’s operational efficiency and thereby deliver transparent and seamless citizen-centric services,” an official of the Ministry of Labour and Employment said. In a departure from the past, subscribers can now access their membership details, provident fund balances, claim status, pensionable service records and benefits availed through the unified portal. Earlier, this information remained scattered across regional offices. For instance, someone working in Chennai can check the status of his PF claims or withdraw the money while sitting in Delhi or any other place. continued on page 8 Shooter Masoori fails dope test, axed from Asian Games squad According to the NADA notification, Masoori remains eligible to compete as he has not Vinayak Padmadeo been provisionally suspended. Tribune News Service However, the National Rifle New Delhi, July 8 Association of India (NRAI) has In a major setback to India’s removed him from the Asian shooting team, pistol shooter Games squad. Akash BharadGaurav Kumar Masoori of waj will now represent India in Baghpat in UP who , the 10m air pistol was selected for both event alongside the 2026 Asian Games Kedarling Uchaand the upcoming ganve and Kamaljeet ISSF World Cup in at the Aichi-Nagoya Hangzhou (China), Asian Games. has been caught in a NRAI Secretary doping controversy Gaurav K Masoori General Pawan Singh after testing positive confirmed the develfor a banned substance. opment. “We had to take the Masoori has been issued an decision to replace his name in adverse analytical finding the Asian Games squad as he (AAF) notification by the has been issued a notification. National Anti-Doping Agency We would not have been able (NADA) after his sample test- to make the change in time for ed positive for propranolol the Games if we had delayed and its metabolite, 4-hydroxy- the decision,” Singh told propranolol. Propranolol is a The Tribune on Wednesday. beta blocker that lowers heart Masoori’s sample was colrate and is prohibited in pre- lected during the Kumar cision sports such as shoot- Surendra Singh Memorial ing because it can provide a Shooting Championship, continued on page 8 competitive advantage. THE TRIBUNE EXCLUSIVE