Canadian police earlier this month arrested and charged three Indian men in the city of Edmonton in Alberta and said they were probing whether the men had ties to the Indian government.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) announced that Amandeep Singh, 22, has been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in Nijjar’s killing.
Singh, an Indian national who resided 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.
Three men accused in Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s death appear in court
Earlier this month, the three men accused of murdering Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year in a killing that triggered a diplomatic crisis between Canada and India appeared briefly in a British Columbia courtroom.
Karanpreet Singh, 28, Kamalpreet Singh, 22 and Karan Brar, 22, all Indian nationals, face charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
The three appeared via video link wearing orange prison uniforms.
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 prompted a diplomatic crisis with New Delhi when he cited evidence of Indian government involvement in Nijjar’s death.
Canadian police said they are probing whether the three accused had ties to the Indian government.
India has denied involvement in Nijjar’s death. Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said India will wait for Canadian police to share information on the three accused.
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 labeled Nijjar a "terrorist."
Canadian Sikh leaders have called for Canada to investigate Indian interference in Canadian affairs. Nijjar’s longtime friend Moninder Singh called the arrests in his friend’s death "bittersweet" last week.
