police inside Canada has arrested three Indian citizens Murder of a Sikh separatist leader last year, which A major diplomatic dispute broke out with India,
Hardeep Singh Nijjar – A designated terrorist in India – Murdered in Surrey on 18 June By two masked persons.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sparked a diplomatic controversy in September when he said there were “credible allegations” Indians involved in Nijjar’s murder, India has denied the allegations.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superintendent Mandeep Mukar said Friday that the three suspects have been identified as Karan Brar, 22, Kamal Preet Singh, 22, and Karan Preet Singh, 28.
All three suspects were arrested in Alberta, where they had lived as non-permanent residents for at least three to five years.
they have been Charged with first-degree murder as well as conspiracy to commit murderAccording to court documents.
“We are investigating whether it has any connection with the Indian government,” Mr. Mukar said. He said it was an “ongoing investigation.”
Assistant Commissioner David Teboul said Canadian officials are talking to counterparts in India. “I would describe that collaboration as quite challenging,” he said.
“It’s been very difficult.”
The three men were expected to be transported to British Columbia by Monday to face charges.
Nijjar, an Indian-born citizen of Canada, was a plumber and also a leader of a strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland, known as Khalistan. Call for Sikh separatist movement There was a demand for a separate homeland for the Sikh religious community, carved out of the Indian state of Punjab.
Nijjar was accused of leading a banned terrorist organization called Khalistan Tiger Force, but he denied allegations of terrorism links.
Three months after her death, Mr Trudeau claimed the Indian government may have been behind Nijjar’s murder, further worsening already shaky bilateral relations.
,Involvement of a foreign government in the murder of a Canadian citizen An attack on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” Mr. Trudeau said in Parliament.
India rejects Canada’s “absurd and motivated” allegations He accused the Trudeau government of allowing the Khalistan movement to flourish. In response to the allegations, India had last year asked Canada to expel 41 of its 62 diplomats present in the country. Tension remains but has subsided to some extent.
Nijjar’s friend Moninder Singh said the arrests were “bittersweet”.
“It is a matter of relief that the investigation is moving forward. At the same time, it still raises many questions,” Mr Singh, a spokesman for the BC Gurudwara Council, told Reuters.
Balpreet Singh, legal counsel for the World Sikh Organization, said, “I think Canada has been soft on Indian interference for the last four decades. The Canadian Sikh community has suffered the consequences of this.”
But Nijjar’s death “represents the undermining of (Canada’s) sovereignty on a very different level,” Moninder Singh said.