Canadian federal police arrested Kamalpreet Singh and two other Indian nationals on suspicion of the international assassination of a prominent Sikh separatist leader in June last year, but said they had no connection with the Indian government. “Connections” are not excluded.Photo provided by: Integrated Homicide Investigation Team
Karanpreet Singh was arrested Friday in Edmonton, Alberta, along with two other Indian men accused of killing a Canadian man in broad daylight in British Columbia last year in a crowded parking lot outside a Sikh temple.Photo courtesy: Integrated Homicide Investigation Team
Canadian police said the investigation was ongoing but they did not say what evidence they had against Karan Brar and the two other Indian nationals accused of carrying out the assassination.Photo courtesy: Integrated Homicide Investigation Team
May 4 (UPI) — Last year, Canadian federal police arrested three Indian nationals on suspicion of assassinating a prominent Sikh separatist leader, but did not rule out “connections to the Indian government.”
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police told reporters Friday that the three were arrested by local, provincial and federal police in Edmonton, Alberta, and transported to British Columbia, where they were arrested in 2023 at Hardeep. He is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Singh Nijjar.
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Nijjar, a Canadian citizen and prominent Khalistan separatist leader, was gunned down in broad daylight on June 18 in Surrey, British Columbia, in a crowded parking lot outside a Sikh temple.
Last September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government had shared information with allies indicating that India was behind the killing of Sikh separatists on Canadian soil.
The assassination of the 45-year-old man was caught on camera, and police quickly circulated images of the suspect wearing a mask and the target vehicle.
India has strongly denied any link to the murder, calling the allegations “irrational.”
At the time, Prime Minister Trudeau refused to elaborate on the evidence, despite repeated pleas from fellow politicians.
Indian authorities had sought Nijjar's extradition on so-called terrorism-related charges. This claim was widely dismissed as fraudulent by the international community.
RCMP officials said Friday that the murder investigation remains active and ongoing, without providing details on the motive or evidence collected so far.
“I would like to say that this matter remains an active investigation. We emphasize that today's announcement is not a complete account of the ongoing investigative work,” said the RCMP assistant. Commissioner Dave Teboul.
“Separate investigations into these matters, which are clearly not limited to those arrested today, are underway. These efforts also include an investigation into their ties to the Indian government.”
Karan Brar, 22, Kamalpreet Singh, 22, and Karanpreet Singh, 28, were arrested without incident Friday morning in Edmonton, where the three had a permanent residence.
The Vancouver Sun, citing confidential sources, said the three men originally entered Canada on student visas but have ties to gangs in British Columbia and abroad.
All are scheduled to make their first court appearances on Monday.
Police are currently appealing for information regarding the three men's presence in Surrey during and leading up to the murder.
“This investigation does not end here. We are aware that others may have been involved in this murder,” the RCMP assistant added. Mandeep Mooker, head of British Columbia's multi-agency integrated homicide investigation team. “We remain committed to locating and apprehending each of these individuals.”
In November, an Indian national with ties to government security agencies was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice for attempting to assassinate an American resident of New York City.
It is unclear whether the two plots are related.