All four alleged accused in Nijjar's killing no longer in custody, British Columbia Justice Department documents show
Jan 09, 2025
Vancouver (British Columbia) [Canada], January 9 : Documents released by the Justice Department of British Columbia, Canada show that all four alleged accused in the murder of NIA designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar appear to be no longer in the custody.
The case documents show 'N' against the status of being in custody. The four men -- Karan Brar, Karan Singh, Amandeep Singh, Kamalpreet Singh and Karanpreet Singh were charged with the murder of Nijjar and conspiracy to commit murder, by the Canadian Police.
Brar, 22, Karanpreet Singh, 28, and Kamalpreet Singh, 22, were all taken into custody in Edmonton on May 3. A fourth accused identified as Amandeep Singh (22) was already in the custody of Peel Regional Police in Ontario for unrelated firearms charges and was also arrested for the said crime on May 11.
According to the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) in British Columbia, they are accused of murder and conspiracy. Police personnel however had not given any evidence of any link to India as was being speculated in the Canadian media.
At the time of the arrest of the alleged accused, the Ministry of External Affairs reiterated that Canada had not provided any "specific" evidence or relevant information in the Hardeep Singh Nijjar killing case and that no "formal communication" had been provided to India over the arrests of three Indians allegedly involved in the matter.
Notably, ties between India and Canada have been strained after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused agents of the Indian government of killing Nijjar.
However, India has dismissed the accusations as "absurd" and "motivated".
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was designated a terrorist by India's National Investigation Agency in 2020, was shot and killed as he came out of a Gurdwara in Surrey in June last year.
The video of his killing that reportedly surfaced in March 2024 showed Nijjar being shot by armed men in what has been described as a "contract killing."