VANCOUVER, Canada: Canadian police on Friday arrested three Indian nationals in connection with the murder of a Sikh separatist in Vancouver last year, whose death has been linked to the Indian government.
The killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar last fall plunged Canada and India into a serious diplomatic crisis after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested the Indian government was involved in the murder.
India, however, rejected the allegations as “absurd” and restricted visas for Canadians and forced Ottawa to withdraw diplomats.
Three Indian nationals, two aged 22 and one aged 28, were arrested on Friday and charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy charges. Those arrested have been suspected as being the shooter, driver and security guard on the day Nijjar was killed.
They were arrested by police in Edmonton, in the neighboring province of Alberta, where they reside, and are in police custody for further proceedings.
All had been in Canada for three to five years, police said at a news conference. But the probe doesn’t end here, according to the Canadian authorities.
A Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s homicide investigations team member Mandeep Mooker said, “This investigation does not end here. We are aware that others may have played a role in this homicide”.
‘Credible allegations’
Nijjar immigrated to Canada in 1997 and became a citizen in 2015. He was a strong advocate for a separate Sikh state, known as Khalistan, carved out of Indian Punjab.
Indian authorities were chasing him for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder.
Masked assailants shot him dead on June 18, 2023 in the parking lot of the Sikh temple he led in suburban Vancouver.
PM Trudeau announced several months later that Canada had “credible allegations” linking Indian intelligence to the killing and expelled an Indian official, spurring the diplomatic tit-for-tat with New Delhi.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s homicide investigations team is still investigating the ties of the suspects, “if any, to the Indian government.”
In November, the US Department of Justice charged an Indian citizen living in the Czech Republic with allegedly preparing a similar assassination attempt on American soil.
According to the documents the prosecutors submitted to the court an Indian government official was also involved in the planning.
The shock allegations came after US President Joe Biden hosted Indian PM Modi for a rare state visit.
U.S. intelligence agencies assessed that the plot on American soil was approved by then-top Indian spy official Samant Goel, The Washington Post reported this week.
Canada is home to about 770,000 Sikhs, who make up about two percent of the country’s population, with a vocal minority calling for an independent state of Khalistan.
