Canadian police have charged three members of an alleged hit team for their role in the assassination of the Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the first arrests in a high-profile killing which officials believe was masterminded by India.
The arrest, first reported by CBC News, comes nearly a year after the prominent activist was killed in the parking lot of his gurdwara in the city of Surrey, British Columbia.
According to court documents, Karanpreet Singh, Kamalpreet Singh and Karan Brar have been charged with first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in Nijjar’s death. All of the men were living in the city of Edmonton, Alberta.
Brian Edwards, RCMP assistant commissioner called the killing “outrageous” and “reprehensible”, adding the investigators worked closely with members of the Sikh community.
“Those scars will remain in our community for a long time,” he said.
In September, the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, told parliament his government had “credible allegations” that India was behind the killing, calling the death of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil an “unacceptable violation of our sovereignty”.
India has denied direct involvement in the killing of Nijjar and suggested “rogue” operatives were behind a separate attempted assassination of a prominent Sikh figure in the United States.
But the fallout from Nijjar’s murder has chilled relations between Canada and India – and exposed what officials say is a transnational campaign of violence by India, meant to target dissidents abroad.
The men arrested on Friday are Indian citizens who had lived in Canada for three to five years, although none have permanent residency, said Supt Mandeep Mooker. More arrests in connection to the murder are possible, he said, adding that police were working with other units in “active investigations” across the country. The CBC reported police were probing three other murders in Canada, including the “sick and twisted” killing of an 11-year-old boy in the city of Edmonton.
Members of the group, alleged to be the gunmen and drivers responsible for the brazen 18 June killing of Nijjar, were arrested in police raids in at least two provinces.
Assistant commissioner David Teboul, commander of the Federal Policing Program in the Pacific region, told reporters that the shooting of Nijjar was “very much under active investigation … and these efforts include investigating connections to the government of India”.
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