‘Goldy Brar is watching’: At house of FBI most wanted, lips sealed, walls up

Where he is, is a million-dollar question – literally. That’s the award the FBI announced this week for information leading to Goldy’s arrest, having just added his name to its list of 10 Most Wanted Fugitives. He is identified in the list as Satinderjeet Singh, the formal name that few here now remember Goldy by.

The house with a green canopy strung over the main porch, providing further privacy, is located over 600-odd sq m, with around 150 sq m set aside for trees and plants. Goldy’s parents Shamsher Singh and Preetpal Kaur live here.

The two were arrested in January 2026 on the charge of helping run Goldy’s extortion racket, handling the calls made to businessmen across Punjab, and are now out on bail.

At the house, Preetpal answers the door, but refuses to open, or to say anything. (Express Photo by Kamaldeep Singh Brar)

Soon after the arrests, an audio clip purportedly from Goldy surfaced, threatening police authorities for their action.

At the house, Preetpal answers the door, but refuses to open, or to say anything. Apart from police, the NIA and FBI, rival gangs are seen as threats to associates of Goldy, including his parents.

Neighbours say the family moved into the house around 2004, shifting here from the police quarters. The peeling remnants of multiple official notices on the wall outside indicate the number of times the NIA has raided the house.

Among the few willing to talk about the family is an elderly passerby, who refused to be named. He called Shamsher “respectable”, while adding that no one in the neighbourhood remembers seeing Goldy. Police sources say Shamsher was compulsorily retired in 2021 after allegations of helping his son.

Another person out for an evening walk adds: “We don’t want a single word attributed to us about Goldy or his family.”

Security agencies believe Goldy fled to the US in 2022 after the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala in May of that year. In the chargesheet it filed in the case, the NIA called Goldy the attack’s “mastermind”.

While the FBI describes him as “operating as a top leader of the Lawrence Bishnoi Organized Crime Group in North America”, a purported audio clip of Goldy that surfaced in June 2025 indicated a rift between him and Bishnoi, who is lodged in Gujarat’s Sabarmati Jail.

The two are believed to have fallen out after Bishnoi’s brother Anmol was held in the US and extradited, with Bishnoi blaming Goldy and Azerbaijan-based gangster Rohit Godara over handling of the case.

In the June 2025 audio, Goldy also denied allegations of any links with Pakistan’s ISI, claiming: “I urge the media and administration to confirm facts before labelling someone a patriot or a traitor. We have never acted against the nation.”

The Punjab Police, which designated Goldy a terrorist in January 2024, has welcomed the FBI focus on Goldy, though officials add that he could have been caught a while ago had Canadian authorities taken its warnings seriously.

A senior state intelligence officer told The Indian Express that they had been working in tandem with Central agencies to capture Goldy for a long time, adding: “We were very disappointed with Canada… Despite an Interpol Red Corner Notice and his placement on Canada’s Be On Look Out (BOLO) list, no arrest was made. He was subsequently removed from the list without explanation,” the officer said.

Police sources said they suspect that Goldy keeps a watch on the house via CCTVs from wherever he is. (Express Photo by Kamaldeep Singh Brar)

The Punjab Police maintain Goldy openly ran his extortion racket from Canada, before shifting base to the US. In December 2022, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced at a press conference in Gujarat that US authorities had detained Goldy in California. But this was later found to be incorrect.

According to a dossier prepared by the Punjab Police on Goldy and other such criminals operating abroad, “Over recent years, Indian citizens have been subjected to coordinated and sustained extortion calls carried out by these criminal networks, from Canadian territory.”

The dossier said the victims are typically small businessmen and entertainers. “Extortion demands are conveyed through anonymous international calls, VoIP services, and encrypted digital platforms. The threats accompanying these demands include shootings at residences, grenade attacks on commercial establishments, targeted killings, and intimidation of family members. In multiple cases, when demands are not met, these threats have been carried out.”

With inputs from Man Aman Singh Chinna, Chandigarh