Canada arrests 4th Indian in Hardeep Singh Nijjar case

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 12

The police in Canada have charged a fourth Indian with the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Ontario province’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) said in a statement on Saturday that the man, 22-year-old Amandeep Singh, was already in the custody of the Peel Regional Police in Ontario for unrelated firearm charges.

Youth charged with first-degree murder

• The police said Amandeep Singh (22) had been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder
• He gave his places of residence as Brampton, Surrey and Abbotsford; no further details were released due to the ongoing investigation

“The IHIT pursued the evidence and gained sufficient information for the BC Prosecution Service to charge Amandeep Singh with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder,” said the police statement.

The police said he had been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the Nijjar case. Amandeep gave his places of residence as Brampton, Surrey and Abbotsford, all in Canada. Investigators say no further details of the arrest can be released due to the ongoing investigation and court processes.

The police had earlier arrested three Indian nationals — Karan Brar, Kamalpreet Singh and Karanpreet Singh — in Edmonton and charged them with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the Nijjar case. Nijjar was gunned down in June last year. However, the police have said their investigations have not concluded and they are probing the role of “others”, including officials of the Indian Government.

“The investigation does not end here. We are aware that there are others out there who played a role in this homicide and we remain dedicated to identifying and arresting each one of them,” said Superintendent Mandeep Mooker, heading the IHIT, at a press conference last week.

Citing sources, a report in Global News said the suspects had entered Canada on “student visas but may have been working on the direction of the Indian intelligence when they shot Nijjar”. Members of the hit squad are alleged to have played different roles as shooters, drivers and spotters on the day Nijjar was killed at Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, it wrote.

The Canadian Royal and Mounted Police (RCMP) said all four were living as non-permanent residents in Canada for the past three to five years. The arrests have also heightened scrutiny on Canada’s permitting process for international students after revelations that a video posted online in 2019 by an India-based immigration consultancy showed Brar saying his “study visa has arrived” while a photo showed him holding up what appeared to be a study permit.

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