3 arrests made in relation to killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar
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Posted May 3, 2024 1:00 pm.
Last Updated May 3, 2024 4:21 pm.
Three men have been arrested and charged with the murder of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
RCMP Assistant Commissioner David Teboul says in addition to the murder case, there are separate investigations looking into possible connections to the Government of India.
Nijjar, who had campaigned for a separate Sikh homeland in India, was gunned down in his vehicle outside his gurdwara in Surrey, B.C., last June.
He was the temple president at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, B.C.
Kamalpreet Singh, 22, Karanpreet Singh, 28, and Karan Brar, 22, have all been charged with conspiracy to commit murder in Surrey and Edmonton. All three are Indian nationals and have been living as non-permanent residents in Canada for the last three to five years.
Last September, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the House of Commons that Ottawa was investigating “credible allegations” that New Delhi had been involved in Nijjar’s killing – starting a diplomatic firestorm between the two countries.
India has repeatedly denied involvement in Nijjar’s death.
The president of the BC Sikh Gurdwara Council Moninder Singh says the arrests come as a “sigh of relief,” but there’s still a very important question remaining — he wants to know the extent to which India played a hand in the crime.
“The arrests provide some relief around getting [the suspects] off the street,” Moninder Singh told CityNews sister station OMNI News. “But if India’s just going to go and hire somebody else to carry out operations — that’s still outstanding.”
At a press event Friday, Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh confirmed for reporters that there’s intelligence that connects the assassination to the Indian government.
“That is horrific —that a foreign government would kill a Canadian on Canadian soil,” said Singh. “Arrests being made are a positive step. And we want to see everyone that was responsible [for] this held to account.”
In November 2023, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said it had charged an Indian national in connection with the foiled assassination attempt of a Khalistani separatist leader in that country, who has ties to Canada.
The office explained at the time that the would-be victim, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual Canadian-U.S. citizen “was an associate” of Sikh leader Nijjar.
The Attorney General said it’s alleged Nikhil Gupta was directed by an Indian government official — identified only as CC-1 — between May and June to hire someone to carry out the murder of Pannun in the U.S. It noted that didn’t happen because the contracted killer was actually an undercover U.S. agent.
The office added that it linked Nijjar’s killing to the alleged plot against Pannun in the U.S. and alleged Gupta was also involved in communications about the 45-year-old temple president’s death.
Files from The Canadian Press were used in this report