Three Indian men have been charged in the brazen murder of a Sikh nationalist on Canadian soil, police said Friday, a killing that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau blamed on “agents of the Indian government,” triggering a diplomatic feud with New Delhi and India. leading to tit-for-tat expulsions of each country’s diplomats.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a news conference Friday that the three suspects were arrested in Edmonton, Alberta, and charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the killing of Sikh nationalist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in June. .
Police identified the three suspects as Karan Brar, 22; Kamalpreet Singh, 22; and Karampreet Singh, 28. They said the men had lived in Canada for three to five years but were not permanent residents of Canada.
“This investigation doesn’t end here,” Superintendent Mandeep Mooker, head of the Mounties’ integrated homicide investigation team, said at a news conference Friday. “We are aware that others may have played a role in this homicide and we remain committed to finding and apprehending each of these individuals.”
Many other investigations are ongoing, including exploring possible Indian government involvement in Mr. Nijjar’s murder, Deputy Commissioner David Teboul of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said at the news conference.
He also said the relationship with Indian partners in the murder investigation had been difficult, but provided no further details. The Indian government has strongly denied the accusation.
Nijjar was a leader of the local Khalistan movement, which seeks to create a separate Sikh nation in India that would include the northern state of Punjab.
According to Indian media reports, he was born in Punjab and moved to Canada at the height of India’s crackdown on Sikh leaders in the 1990s. He was the leader of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara temple in Surrey, a city outside Vancouver that is home to one of the largest Sikh populations in Canada.
The Indian government labeled Mr. Nijjar a terrorist in 2020 and called for his arrest.
Mr Nijjar had been one of several members of the Sikh community warned of threats to their lives by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Jagmeet Singh, leader of the federal New Democratic Party representing a district of British Columbia, testified last month at an inquiry into foreign interference that he had also been warned by police of potential threats against his life.
The public inquiry, which issued its provisional conclusions relationship It was established on Friday last September after growing political pressure against Trudeau to investigate allegations that countries such as China and India had interfered in Canadian elections.
The report found that Indian intelligence officials used proxies in Canada to influence communities and politicians, with a special interest in the Khalistan movement.
The arrest of the men accused of committing Nijjar’s murder will provide little comfort to the Sikh community if Indian officials involved in the killing and other interference activities are not also held accountable, said Balpreet Singh Boparai, a lawyer based in Toronto at the World Sikh Organization of Canada.
“We just hope that Canada has the courage to be transparent and identify the individuals behind this plot,” he said.
Aside from a map outlining the route of the getaway vehicle and some grainy images of the attackers, police investigating Mr. Nijjar’s murder over the past year have released little information about their progress.
In December, sources who spoke to The Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper, said arrests were imminent, but the passage of months had left some in the community concerned that the one-year anniversary of Mr. Nijjar’s death in June would pass without any solution.
“We wouldn’t have gotten to this point without the courage and courage of the Sikh community coming forward,” said Superintendent Mandeep Mooker, a Mounties homicide investigator.
Mihika Agarwal contributed reporting from Surrey, British Columbia.