California
FBI probing drive-by attack on Nijjar aide in California
The FBI is investigating an August 11 drive-by shooting that targeted a California activist with close ties to Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was fatally shot last year in a killing that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said could be linked to India.
In an interview with Reuters, Satinder Pal Singh Raju, of Woodland, California, said FBI agents on Thursday came to speak with him and a friend who was driving the truck when they and another passenger were attacked on Interstate 505 South in Yolo County on their way back from a late dinner in Vacaville.
Nijjar was killed in June 2023 outside his gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia. That killing, and Trudeau’s suggestion of possible Indian government involvement, triggered a diplomatic crisis between the countries.
Speaking through an interpreter, Raju said a white car pulled up to the left of their truck, then fell back behind them before pulling up alongside them again. That was when the first bullet was fired.
“With the first shot, I ducked down,” he said. “But then I heard more gunshots fired.”
As they attempted to escape the gunfire, their truck skidded and veered off the road into a ditch, said Raju. He and his two friends fled into a nearby field and hid behind a haystack while they called 911. Police officers later told him they located at least five shell casings.
The FBI’s Sacramento office confirmed it is collaborating with the California Highway Patrol “in support of the investigation” into the shooting.
A spokesman for the California Highway Patrol confirmed the shooting occurred, but declined to provide details and said the investigation is ongoing.
In the same month as Nijjar’s killing, the FBI foiled an alleged assassination attempt against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, another prominent Sikh separatist with dual citizenship in Canada and the United States. Pannun is general counsel for Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a banned outfit in India.
The US Justice Department has charged Indian national Nikhil Gupta with trying to arrange Pannun’s murder at the behest of an Indian intelligence official.
Gupta pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial in New York.
Four Indian nationals in Canada are facing charges of murder and conspiracy in the death of Nijjar.
India has denied involvement in both incidents, and it was not clear if there is a connection between the drive-by shooting involving Raju and those earlier incidents.
The Indian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment on Friday about the recent shooting in California.
In the days and months after Nijjar’s killing, the FBI and the Canadian Royal Mounted Police privately warned at least seven Sikh activists that their lives could be in grave danger, without specifying the source of the threat.
Raju told Reuters he was not among those who received such calls. Raju is involved with SFJ, an advocacy group co-founded by Pannun that organises non-binding referendums around the world to urge Punjab to secede from India and carve out an independent state called Khalistan.
The movement led to a violent insurgency in India’s Punjab state in the 1980s and 1990s.
The August 11 shooting occurred two weeks after Raju had returned from Calgary, Canada, where he helped organise a referendum that drew the participation of an estimated 55,000 members of the Sikh community, according to Pannun.
In 2019, India declared SFJ an unlawful association, citing its involvement in extremist activities. Pannun and its members deny these allegations.
Raju is not as well known as Pannun internationally, but he said he is active with organising referendums.
He said he does not have enemies, and suspects the shooting was motivated by a desire to stoke fear in those supporting the Khalistan movement. “…this attack on me and the death threats is not going to deter me from continuing the campaign,” he said.
Rapper was stabbed 16 times by fellow inmate in May 2025 while 10-year sentence in Megan Thee Stallion shooting case
Tory Lanez has filed a $100 million lawsuit against the California Department of Corrections stemming from a May 2025 incident where the rapper was stabbed in prison.
Lanez — born Daystar Peterson and currently serving a 10-year sentence after being found guilty in the Megan Thee Stallion shooting case — also sued the warden and guards at the California Correctional Institute in Tehachapi, where the rapper was stabbed 16 times in an “unprovoked life-threatening attack” by another inmate, the lawsuit states.
Peterson was hospitalized following the May 2025 incident, suffering a collapsed lung among stab wounds to his back, torso, and head.
According to the Associated Press, the lawsuit criticized the Department of Corrections for housing Peterson with fellow inmate and alleged attacker Santino Casio, who was serving a life sentence for second-degree murder. “The choice to house Casio with Peterson was known or should have been a known danger,” the lawsuit said, adding that Tory Lanez’ “high-profile celebrity status” made him a target.
The lawsuit also said that prison guards were slow to respond to the shanking, and didn’t employ flash grenades or other measures to halt Casio’s attack.; Casio was not charged for stabbing Peterson, the Associated Press notes.
Lanez, who following his hospitalization was transferred to San Luis Obispo County’s California Men’s Colony, also alleges in the lawsuit that he never received his possessions from the California Correctional Institute in Tehachapi, including songbooks filled with lyrics to his unreleased music.
Lanez is serving a 10-year prison sentence for shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the foot during a confrontation in the summer of 2020. He was eventually convicted on several firearms charges, including assault with a firearm, in December 2022. In November 2025, his appeal was denied by a three-judge panel, and the 10-year sentence was upheld.
From one crackdown on hospice fraud to another.
A few weeks ago, the FBI arrested multiple people in Southern California that were accused of defrauding the government for millions of dollars.
In a more recent announcement last Thursday, California’s State Attorney General Rob Bonta held a press conference to announce a fraud bust of their own.
“Operation Skip Trace uncovered and ended a hospice fraud scheme that defrauded Medi-Cal of $267 million,” Bonta said. “So just to be clear, a quarter billion dollars over funds that are paid for by California taxpayers, funds that are meant to provide care to Californians in need. It is unacceptable. It is illegal and we will not stand for it.”
The operation saw a total of 21 suspects charged as a result and dismantled a major hospice fraud scheme, with two handguns and over $750 thousand in cash seized as well.
According to the state’s attorney general, this is just one of the many cases over the years the state has cracked down on.
“This is just the latest example of the California DOJ’s longstanding ongoing and successful efforts to combat hospice and medical fraud,” Bonta said. “We have been doing this work for years. We’ve been doing it successfully before certain people in this country decided to think about it for the first time. We will continue to do this work. Heads down, sleeves rolled up, important investigative work, prosecutorial work.”
He added to that by taking a shot at the Trump Administration’s latest fraud operations.
“While healthcare fraud might be President Trump’s shiny new political talking point, the California DOJ has been going after healthcare fraud since 1979,” Bonta said. “For decades, Trump is late to the party. Protecting taxpayer dollars and protecting programs sick and vulnerable Californians rely on have been our priority for nearly five decades.”
Governor Gavin Newsom also spoke out about this latest crackdown while taking a shot of his own at President Trump.
In a post to “X” the Governor’s Press Office wrote in part quote…
“California has been cracking down on hospice fraud long before Trump gutted oversight and pardoned the architect of the biggest health care fraud scheme in U.S. history.”
State Republicans have responded to this latest announcement from Attorney General Bonta, calling for a special session to demand accountability from the Governor on widespread fraud.
California
Xavier Becerra surges in poll after Eric Swalwell drops out of California governor’s race
A new poll shows a major shift in the California governor’s race after former Rep. Eric Swalwell, who was once a frontrunner, dropped out of the election following several allegations of sexual misconduct.
“This definitely throws this race into even more volatility, creates a huge vacuum,” Pomona College politics professor Sara Sadhwani said.
According to the new numbers, Xavier Becerra, the former state attorney general and Health and Human Services Secretary under President Biden, is surging in popularity.
In Emerson College’s Inside California Politics poll, Becerra is now polling at 10%, a seven-point jump since March.
Republican Steve Hilton remains in the lead with 17%, followed by Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco at 14%.
Among Democrats, billionaire Tom Steyer leads the pack with 14%, followed by Becerra and former Rep. Katie Porter at 10% each. San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan sits at 5%.
The poll showed that 23% of voters remain undecided.
“Xavier Becerra should be the happiest of them all because he’s the biggest move in this survey,” said Zev Yaroslavsky, director at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs.
Emerson College conducted the poll right after Swalwell dropped out of the race and President Trump endorsed Hilton.
“I believe over time, because Trump has endorsed Hilton for the governorship, that Hilton will continue to edge up and Bianco by definition will have to go down,” Yaroslavsky said.
Last weekend, the California GOP held its convention, and, similar to the Democrats, the party did not make an endorsement. However, Bianco received the most votes from the GOP delegates.
“We’re extremely happy with how it came out,” Bianco said. “There was a lot of effort put in by my opponent. Hundreds of thousands of dollars to try and win this election.
With the large number of undecided voters, Yaroslavky believes that the race is still in the air.
“It’s still early,” Yaroslavsky said. “It’s a little less than seven weeks before the election. The ballots go out at the beginning of next month. People, at least 30%, still haven’t made up their mind.”
In the state’s primary system, only the top two vote-getters in the June primary will advance to the November general election.
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