Fourth man arrested for killing of Sikh leader

Canadian police say Indian national charged like other three with Vancouver murder

A fourth person has been arrested and charged with the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year, according to Canadian police, in a case that strained diplomatic relations with India.

Canadian police earlier this month arrested and charged three Indian men in the city of Edmonton in Alberta and said they were investigating whether the men had ties to the Indian government.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) on Saturday announced Amandeep Singh, 22, had been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in Nijjar’s killing.

Singh, an Indian national who lived in Brampton, Surrey and Abbotsford, was already in custody for unrelated firearms charges out of Peel, Ontario, IHIT said.

Nijjar, 45, was shot dead in June outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a large Sikh population.

A few months later, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cited what he said was evidence of potential Indian government involvement, prompting a diplomatic crisis with New Delhi.

Nijjar was a Canadian citizen campaigning for the creation of Khalistan, an independent Sikh homeland carved out of India.

The presence of Sikh separatist groups in Canada has long frustrated New Delhi, which had labelled Nijjar a “terrorist”.

In November, the United States Justice Department charged an Indian citizen living in the Czech Republic with allegedly plotting a similar assassination attempt on American soil.

Prosecutors said in unsealed court documents that an Indian government official was also involved in the planning.

The shock allegations came after US President Joe Biden hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a rare state visit as Washington sought closer ties with India against China’s growing influence.

US intelligence agencies had assessed the plot on American soil was approved by India’s top spy official at the time, Samant Goel, The Washington Post reported last month.

Canada is home to some 770,000 Sikhs, who make up about 2 per cent of the country’s population, with a vocal minority calling for an independent state of Khalistan.