B.C. police to make ‘significant’ announcement on Sikh leader’s killing

SURREY, B.C. — Homicide police in British Columbia say they will be providing a “significant update” on the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, amid reports that arrests have been made in the case.

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc says he has been informed about the update by the RCMP in the case that triggered allegations by Ottawa of Indian government involvement in the killing last year.

He says the case “likely and very clearly will end up before criminal courts.”

The CBC has reported that alleged members of a hit squad were arrested and that investigators are looking into possible links with three other killings.

Nijjar, who had campaigned for a separate Sikh homeland in India, was gunned down in his vehicle outside his gurdwara in Surrey, B.C., last June.

He was the temple president at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, B.C.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in the House of Commons in September that there was credible intelligence linking the killing to the Indian government, touching off a diplomatic row that resulted in India suspending the issuing of visas to Canadians for two months.

India has repeatedly denied involvement in Nijjar’s death.

Members of the Sikh community in Canada have accused the Indian government of being behind the murder and attempting to silence voices advocating for Sikh separation, but police have previously denied having any evidence of that.

Homicide investigators have said they were looking for at least three suspects in Nijjar’s killing. Two suspects ran from the scene of the shooting on foot, while a third was in a getaway car a few blocks away from the temple. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 3, 2024.

The Canadian Press