Three Indian nationals have been arrested and charged in the killing of a Sikh leader in British Columbia in June, Canadian authorities announced on Friday. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had accused India of orchestrating the brazen killing, setting off angry back-and-forth denunciations between the two countries.
The case widened a rift between Canada and India and set off a political dispute between the two already apprehensive nations.
Here is what we know:
Who was Hardeep Singh Nijjar, and what happened to him?
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, was born in the North Indian state of Punjab. After several unsuccessful attempts to gain entry to Canada, he moved there in the mid-1990s, according to Indian news reports, just after a period of Indian crackdowns on a Sikh separatist movement.
In Canada, Mr. Nijjar worked as a plumber, married and had two sons. He obtained Canadian citizenship in 2015, Canada’s immigration minister, Marc Miller, said on social media. In 2020, Mr. Nijjar became the president of a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia, the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara.
Mr. Nijjar was a self-proclaimed “Sikh nationalist who believes in and supports Sikhs’ right to self-determination and independence of Indian-occupied Punjab through a future referendum,” according to an open letter he wrote to the Canadian government in 2016. He was a key figure in British Columbia in rallying votes for a referendum in Canada supporting the establishment of a nation called Khalistan that includes the northern state of Punjab.
The Indian government declared Mr. Nijjar a terrorist in 2020, decades after he left India. It accused him of plotting a violent attack in India and of leading a terrorist group called the Khalistan Tiger Force. In Punjab, however, politicians and journalists asserted that despite the charges, many locals had never heard of him or his movement.
Mr. Nijjar was shot in June near the Sikh temple that he led. While investigators from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police later said he had been ambushed by masked men, they did not disclose if the attack had been politically motivated.
What is known about the arrests?
The three men in custody are in their 20s and were arrested on Friday in Edmonton, Alberta. They were charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. The police identified them as Karan Brar, Kamalpreet Singh and Karanpreeet Singh.
The men had been living in Canada for three to five years and were not permanent residents, the authorities said.
Several other investigations are ongoing and include exploring the possible involvement of the Indian government, said David Teboul, assistant commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He added that the relationship with Indian investigative partners had been a challenge.
In announcing the arrests, Canadian authorities cited the help of people in the Sikh community but did not provide specifics.
What did Canada say?
In September, the Canadian prime minister told lawmakers that “agents of the government of India” had been linked to Mr. Nijjar’s killing on Canadian soil.
Evidence of the ambush was based on intelligence gathered by the Canadian government, according to Mr. Trudeau, who added that he had raised the issue directly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India “in no uncertain terms” at a Group of 20 summit in New Delhi.
“Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” Mr. Trudeau said in September, adding that Canada would pressure India to cooperate with investigations into Mr. Nijjar’s death.
Canada’s foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, also announced that it had expelled an Indian diplomat, whom she described as the de facto head of India’s intelligence agency in Canada.
How did India respond?
The Indian government vehemently denied the allegations by Mr. Trudeau. Mr. Modi “completely rejected” them, according to India’s foreign ministry.
In a statement, the ministry office also spurned “any attempts to connect the government of India” to Mr. Nijjar’s killing and called the accusations “absurd.”