Canada police arrest ‘hit squad’ suspects linked to Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder
- Three Indian nationals have been charged in the shooting, and authorities are ‘investigating connections to the government of India’
- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau previously cited evidence of New Delhi’s involvement, prompting a diplomatic crisis between the two countries
Canadian police said on Friday they had arrested and charged three Indian nationals with the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023 and said they were probing possible links to the Indian government.
Nijjar, 45, was shot dead outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a large Sikh population.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has cited evidence of Indian government involvement, prompting a diplomatic crisis with New Delhi.
Assistant Commissioner David Teboul said the matter was still under investigation and other probes were being carried out.
These “include investigating connections to the government of India”, he told a televised news conference.
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The three suspects are Kamalpreet Singh, Karan Brar and Karampreet Singh and were arrested in Edmonton, Alberta, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Superintendent Mandeep Mooker said.
Nijjar was a Canadian citizen campaigning for the creation of Khalistan, an independent Sikh homeland carved out of India.
The presence of Sikh separatist groups in Canada has long frustrated New Delhi, which had labelled Nijjar a “terrorist”.
Last week the White House expressed concern about the reported role of the Indian intelligence service in assassination plots in Canada and the United States.
Canadian police said they had worked with US law enforcement agencies, without giving additional details, and suggested more detentions might be coming.
“This investigation does not end here. We are aware that others may have played a role in this homicide and we remain dedicated to finding and arresting each one of these individuals,” Mooker said.
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“We welcome the arrests but this does lead to a lot more questions,” said Balpreet Singh, legal counsel and spokesman for the Canada-based World Sikh Organisation advocacy group.
“Those who have been arrested are part of a hit squad but it’s clear that they were directed,” he said by phone.
Canada had been pressing India to cooperate in its investigation. In November, US authorities said an Indian government official had directed the plot in the attempted murder on US soil of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist and dual citizen of the US and Canada.
“While today’s action … is a step forward, it only scratches the surface,” Pannun said in a statement, calling for action to “dismantle the networks that enable and perpetuate such crimes against Canadians on Canadian soil”.
A bloody decade-long Sikh insurgency shook north India in the 1970s and 1980s, until it was crushed in a government crackdown in which thousands of people were killed, including prominent Sikh leaders.
The Khalistan movement has lost much of its political power but still has supporters in the Indian state of Punjab, as well as in the sizeable overseas Sikh diaspora.
While the active insurgency ended years ago, the Indian government has warned repeatedly that Sikh separatists were trying to make a comeback.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
