Organized Crime, Extortion and a President's House Shot Twice: Cricket Canada's Crisis Goes Far Beyond the Boardroom

When we covered the ICC's suspension of Cricket Canada earlier this month, the story was already one of the most alarming governance scandals in recent cricket history — corruption allegations, missing audited accounts, a match-fixing investigation, and an entire national cricket board placed under ICC oversight. It felt like a complete picture of how badly things had gone wrong.

It wasn't the complete picture. Not even close.

In the weeks surrounding the ICC's suspension announcement, a series of events unfolded in Canada that took this story into territory that has nothing to do with cricket administration and everything to do with organised crime, gang connections, and brazen targeted violence. The home of Cricket Canada's president has now been shot at twice in two weeks. A former board member was shot at in Calgary on two separate occasions and was forced to relocate his family before eventually resigning. And the Lawrence Bishnoi gang — one of the most dangerous criminal organisations operating across North America — has been linked to threats made against a Canadian national team player as far back as 2025.

This is no longer just a cricket story. This is a story about what happens when organised crime gets its hooks into a sports organisation, and what the ICC may have been slow to fully reckon with.

The President's House: Shot Twice in Two Weeks

Arvinder Khosa was elected president of Cricket Canada at the organisation's annual general meeting in Mississauga on May 9, 2026 — a vote that itself only happened because a British Columbia Supreme Court justice had ordered it to take place after legal challenges over Cricket Canada's leadership. Khosa had been serving as interim president while those proceedings played out, and was confirmed in the role just weeks before the ICC announced its suspension of the organisation.

Eleven days after taking office, at 4:40 in the morning on May 20, gunshots were fired at Khosa's home in the Newton neighbourhood of Surrey, British Columbia. At least five bullet marks were visible on the door, windows, and exterior of the property. The house was occupied at the time. No one was injured.

Surrey Police Service launched an investigation immediately, and their Extortion Response Team — a dedicated unit that deals specifically with organised crime and extortion-related violence — took over the case. Police described the incident as believed to be extortion-related, citing previous threats made against Khosa before the shooting took place.

Two weeks later, on the morning of June 4, it happened again. The same home, the same neighbourhood, another shooting in the early hours. Once again, the house was occupied. Once again, no one was injured. Surrey police confirmed it was the second incident at the same address and reiterated that the investigation remained extortion-related. By this point, the Integrated Forensic Identification Services were processing both physical and digital evidence from the scene, and police were appealing for anyone with CCTV or dashcam footage in the area to come forward.

The Calgary Connection: A Former Board Member Driven Out

Khosa's situation is deeply alarming, but it is not an isolated incident within Cricket Canada's orbit. Earlier in 2026, in late February and early March, a former Cricket Canada board member's home in Calgary was shot at on two separate occasions. Three men have since been charged in connection with that shooting, with one suspect still at large at the time of writing.

The former official, whom CBC's investigative programme The Fifth Estate has chosen not to identify for his own protection, told reporters he believes the threats against him are connected to his involvement in a deal between Cricket Canada and an outside business group that was seeking to hold cricket tournaments sanctioned by the governing body. After the second shooting at his Calgary home, he relocated his family and resigned from Cricket Canada the following morning.

There is no confirmed link between the Calgary shootings and the Surrey incidents targeting Khosa. Police have explicitly stated there is no indication the two cases are connected. But the fact that two separate Cricket Canada figures have had their homes targeted in shooting incidents within the same few months paints a picture that is difficult to look at and conclude that these are coincidences.

The Bishnoi Gang: When Cricket and Organised Crime Collide

The most disturbing thread running through Cricket Canada's crisis is the alleged involvement of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, one of the most high-profile criminal organisations currently operating across North America. The gang, which has been linked to a string of extortion-related shootings in British Columbia and has been the subject of law enforcement attention on both sides of the Canada-US border, has now been connected to Cricket Canada through two separate allegations.

The first involves Arvinder Khosa himself. A CBC investigation revealed that Khosa, who has maintained his position as president of Cricket British Columbia in addition to his role at the national level, was connected to local players who claimed to be part of the Bishnoi gang and had allegedly threatened a Canadian national men's team player in 2025. Khosa has denied these allegations. When Cricket Canada's new vice-president was asked why the board would vote for Khosa given these reports, the response was that the board had questioned Khosa about the allegations before casting their votes.

The second connection comes through the broader investigation into Cricket Canada's troubles, which revealed that the organisation had been the subject of alleged corruption, influence by organised crime, and attempts to fix parts of matches by major figures within the board. Those accused of these allegations have denied them. But the ICC's anti-corruption unit had already launched an investigation into Canada's national men's team captain Dilpreet Bajwa for alleged match-fixing in an incident during Canada's game against New Zealand at the Men's T20 Cricket World Cup in Chennai in February 2026. Bajwa did not respond to requests for comment.

The ICC's Response: Suspension, But Was It Enough?

When the ICC announced Cricket Canada's suspension on June 1, the official language focused on governance failures, financial mismanagement, and breaches of membership obligations. The match-fixing investigation was referenced, but the full picture of organised crime involvement, extortion-related shootings, and gang connections was not the central focus of the ICC's public communication around the decision.

That raises a legitimate question: at what point does a governance suspension become an inadequate response to what is clearly a much deeper problem? Normalisation Committees and controlled funding mechanisms are the right tools for fixing an organisation that has failed to produce audited accounts or comply with membership requirements. They are less obviously the right tools for an organisation where board members are having their homes shot at by people allegedly connected to organised crime.

Cricket Canada's new interim COO Bhavjit Jauhar has said the irregularities identified by the ICC stem from actions and systemic weaknesses under previous boards and management, and that the new leadership is committed to meeting all compliance requirements. Cricket Canada has also appointed lawyer and former Pan American athlete Dasha Peregoudova to lead an independent committee examining governance and financial controls. These are the right steps on paper. Whether they are sufficient given everything else that is happening around this organisation is a much harder question to answer.

What This Means for Cricket in Canada

Canada is home to one of the largest South Asian diaspora communities in the world. Cricket is not a fringe sport there — it is deeply woven into the cultural fabric of communities in British Columbia, Ontario, and Alberta. The grassroots love for the game is genuine and significant. Canada qualified for the Men's T20 World Cup. There are thousands of players, coaches, and volunteers at club level who have nothing to do with any of what is being described here, and who have worked hard to build the sport in their communities.

All of that is now being overshadowed by a crisis that goes so far beyond what any cricket administrator should ever have to deal with that it is genuinely difficult to know what a realistic path forward looks like. Fixing governance failures takes time but it is a known process. Disentangling a national sports organisation from the influence of organised crime, if those allegations are proven, is a different challenge entirely.

The ICC will be watching developments in Canada very closely. So will everyone who cares about what cricket in North America could become — because right now, it is very hard to see past what it currently is.

This story is developing. We will continue to follow it as new information emerges. What do you make of the ICC's handling of the Cricket Canada crisis — is suspension enough given the scale of what has been alleged? Share your thoughts in the comments.