The Canadian police have arrested three men linked to the infamous Lawrence Bishnoi gang—for the killing of a Canadian Sikh named Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The Indian government was accused by PM Trudeau, no less, of orchestrating his assassination. So does this let New Delhi off the hook? Not as yet.
Remind me about Nijjar?
The killing: In June, 2023, a Canadian Sikh—Hardeep Singh Nijjar—was shot by masked men in the parking lot of the gurdwara—where he served as president. All three suspects remain at large.
The shocking allegation: Soon after, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Parliament that his government is investigating “credible allegations of a potential link” between the Indian government and the killing of Nijjar. New Delhi strongly denied the charges, calling them “absurd and motivated.” Canada expelled the head of India’s intelligence agency—RAW—in the country. India returned the favour by expelling the chief of the Canadian intelligence agency station in India.
Who was Nijjar? Here are the facts most media accounts agree on. Nijjar moved to Canada in 1997 and worked as a plumber—and became a citizen in 2015. He was an ardent advocate of the Khalistan movement—describing himself as a self-proclaimed “Sikh nationalist who believes in and supports Sikhs’ right to self-determination and independence of Indian-occupied Punjab.” When he died, Nijjar was in the midst of organising a referendum among the global Sikh diaspora—supporting the establishment of Khalistan. This Big Story has more on the debate on whether Nijjar was a full-blown Khalistani extremist or not.
The Pannun blowback: In November, all hell broke loose when Financial Times published an exclusive that linked India to a conspiracy to assassinate Khalistani supporter Gurpatwant Singh Pannun—on US soil. When confronted, India expressed “surprise and concern” and said that “activity of this nature was not their policy.”
Sadly, for New Delhi: All those denials rang hollow when US federal prosecutors formally filed an indictment against an unnamed Indian intelligence official and Nikhil Gupta–a man he allegedly hired to kill Pannun. Turns out this RAW officer–who has since been named as Vikram Yadav—recruited Gupta—a known drugs and weapons trafficker. He, in turn, tried to hire an assassin—who turned out to be an FBI agent undercover. That’s when the grand plan fell apart. All of that drama is in this Big Story.
Adding mirch to masala: A Guardian investigation published in April–which alleged multiple plots to kill Khalistani or Kashmiri extremists on Pakistani soil (more in this edition).
Ok, tell me what happened now…
On Friday, Canadian police confirmed that they have arrested three men in connection with Nijjar’s killing: Karan Brar, 22, Kamal Preet Singh, 22, and 28-year-old Karan Preet Singh. They have been charged with first degree murder:
Members of the hit squad are alleged to have played different roles as shooters, drivers and spotters on the day Nijjar was killed at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, according to the sources. Sources said investigators identified the alleged hit squad members in Canada some months ago and have been keeping them under tight surveillance.
You can see the photos released to the media below:
What we know: All of them were in the country on student visas—and therefore are Indian nationals. They were residing in Canada for the past three to five years. But none of them were enrolled in any college. According to Indian Express, none of them have a criminal history.
A CBC exclusive, however, connects them to an infamous Punjab-based gangster: Lawrence Bishnoi. He is currently being held in Sabarmati jail in Gujarat. Bishnoi is also implicated in the killing of the popular rapper Sidhu Moose Wala. More importantly, he is connected to two killings on Canadian soil—other than Nijjar.
Killing #1: is the gangland murder of Sukhdool Singh Gill in September, 2023. Also known as Sukha Duneke, he was part of the Davinder Bambiha gang in Punjab—and had fled to Canada in 2017 using a false passport. Bishnoi took credit for Gill’s death on social media—saying he “had to pay for his sins.” At the time, The Week reported:
Bishnoi is lodged in a jail in Gujarat but his criminal influence spreads far beyond to Canadian soil. The Lawrence Bishnoi gang members are allegedly working alongside his close aide in Canada, Goldy Brar, who came under the scanner of Canadian police after he was accused of masterminding the Sidhu Moosewala killing.
Killing #2: Six weeks after Gill’s death, another Indian gangster was brutally killed in Edmonton–along with his child:
Harpreet Uppal, a 41-year-old with links to organised crime, was shot dead in his vehicle in a busy suburban shopping area of Edmonton on Nov. 9, 2023. Two boys were in the vehicle, Uppal's 11-year-old son, Gavin, and a friend.The Edmonton Police Service later said… Gavin "was not caught in a crossfire or killed by mistake."
Who really killed these men? CBC News implies Gill’s death—arranged by Bishnoi—was similar to that of Nijjar. Bishnoi once again was taking out New Delhi’s choice targets:
Gill was one of Punjab's most wanted men, accused of extortion and arranging money for gang members to buy weapons. Police in India have publicly linked him to murders and other serious crimes… One day before his killing, Gill's name and photo appeared on a list of 43 names of suspected terrorists drawn up by India's National Investigation Agency (NIA), which linked him to the separatist Khalistan Tiger Force. India previously accused Nijjar of being part of the same organisation.
But, but, but: Investigators in both cases say they look like gangland killings—with no likely connection to the Indian government.
Ok, my head hurts. Is India involved or not?
Well, there is no direct evidence as yet. It depends what these three men have to say. But here are the immediate responses from those involved.
The Canadian police: made it clear that the investigation is far from complete—and New Delhi’s role has not been ruled out:
There are separate and distinct investigations ongoing into these matters, certainly not limited to the involvement of the people arrested today. And these efforts include investigating connections to the government of India.
Trudeau made an equally vague statement: “the investigation remains ongoing, as does a separate and distinct investigation not limited to the involvement of the three people arrested yesterday.” That said, the Canadians have not shared any evidence of a connection between the men and New Delhi.
The Indian government: Foreign Minister S Jaishankar offered an off-hand response:
[The suspects] apparently are Indians of some kind of gang background... we'll have to wait for the police to tell us. But, as I said, one of our concerns which we have been telling them is that, you know, they have allowed organised crime from India, specifically from Punjab, to operate in Canada.
Irony alert: Canadian authorities have put Bishnoi’s man in Canada—Goldy Brar—on their wanted list—on the urging of the Indian government. But he has never been officially charged with any crime. So if Brar is indeed linked to Nijjar’s killing, then it’s the Canadians who were sleeping on the job—not their Indian counterparts.
Unnamed Indian officials: went much further—claiming the three men are drug traffickers and connected to the Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI):
Gangsters are running operations in India sitting in Canada and many named accused by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) are living there. They were regularly getting money from ISI for anti-India and pro-Khalistani activities. From time to time we have given evidence but no support is given by the Canadian government or their police… This is a case for the Canadian police and bringing the name of the Indian government is (making) allegations without proof.
If they are gangsters, why blame India?
The Indian government’s position has shifted from one geography to another—which really doesn’t help its credibility. Allegations about killings in Pakistan were cheerily embraced—with Defence Minister Minister Rajnath Singh declaring:
If any terrorist from a neighbouring country tries to disturb India or carry out terrorist activities here, he will be given a fitting reply. If he escapes to Pakistan we will go to Pakistan and kill him there.
In the case of Pannun, India has tried to blame it on “rogue officials” in RAW—insisting it’s not Indian policy to carry out assassinations on foreign soil. As for Nijjar, the government claimed from the outset that he was a victim of gang warfare in Canada.
New Delhi’s alleged MO: Evidence or not, reporting in US and Canadian media suggests that India could have hired Bishnoi to get the job done. For example, New York Times writes:
Analysts and former security officials said that in India’s immediate geographic neighbourhood, RAW has often been willing to venture into murky spaces to recruit killers. Senior officials of Mr. Modi’s administration, including Ajit Doval, the storied former spymaster who now serves as his longtime national security adviser, have in the past been accused of reaching into the underworld to find hit men willing to go after targets both inside the country as well as abroad.
The Times goes even further—hinting at a potential deal with Bishnoi:
Mr. Bishnoi has demonstrated enormous power from behind bars, even giving a television interview from jail last year to pitch himself as a nationalist warrior rather than a criminal mastermind. That, one former security official said, was a signal of his trying to align himself with the spirit of nationalism for a potential deal.
Point to note: RAW has previously been accused of hiring criminals to do its dirty work– in both the US and Pakistan. Washington Post, in fact, claims that the agency used Gupta in a number of its operations closer to home. The Guardian says RAW allegedly paid “millions of rupees to local criminals or poor Pakistanis to carry out the assassinations.”
The bottomline: Many Indians are irked by the seeming double-standard of the West–which celebrates taking out its enemies on foreign shores—but won’t afford brown-ish countries the same privilege. But as Suhasini Haider in The Hindu writes—New Delhi may have broken the unspoken rules of engagement:
India is certainly not the only country to be accused of carrying out extra-judicial, extra-territorial attacks, and the U.S., Israel etc. cite the UN charter on self-defence when carrying out killings of those wanted within their country. In the shadowy world of intelligence agencies, however, more informal rules apply: that such operations must not be executed in friendly countries, that there should be no links between the operatives and diplomatic missions, and finally, that they don’t get caught.
Reading list
CBC News has the most on the arrests—with a distinctly Canadian spin. News18 offers India’s take—including those of unnamed Indian sources. New York Times and Global News have lots more on India’s increasingly aggressive stance on taking out ‘enemies of the state’ overseas. Indian Express reports on the Punjab roots of the men arrested in Canada. The Week is best on the Sukhdool Gill killing.
