A fourth Indian national has been arrested by Canadian authorities in connection with the killing of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada.
A week before, police arrested three Indians linked with the high-profile case that has severely strained India’s relations with Canada.
Amardeep Singh, 22, a resident of Brampton, Surrey, and Abbotsford areas of Canada, has been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, PTI news agency reported.
Singh was arrested on May 11 for his role in the killing of Nijjar, said the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). He was already in the custody of the Peel Regional Police for unrelated firearms charges.
“This arrest shows the nature of our ongoing investigation to hold responsible those that played a role in the homicide of Hardeep Singh Nijjar,” PTI quoted Superintendent Mandeep Mooker, the Officer in Charge of IHIT, as saying.
“IHIT pursued the evidence and gained sufficient information for the British Columbia Prosecution Service to charge Amandeep Singh with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder,” the police statement added.
IHIT investigators on May 3 arrested three Indian nationals — Karan Brar (22), Kamalpreet Singh (22) and 28-year-old Karanpreet Singh — for the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Nijjar, 45, was killed outside Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia on June 18, 2023.
The ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations in September last year of the “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar.
India has dismissed Trudeau’s charges as “absurd” and “motivated.”
Nijjar was a Khalistani leader and he was wanted in India on various terror charges.
