A photograph of late temple president Hardeep Singh Nijjar on a banner outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib, in Surrey, B.C., in September, 2023. Four Indian citizens were arrested in the spring of 2024 and charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in Mr. Nijjar’s shooting.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
When U.S. prosecutors publicly accused Indian gang leader Lawrence Bishnoi this week of orchestrating the 2023 killing of Canadian Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, officials from both countries left unanswered the crucial question that has hung over the case for three years: Did the Indian government order the hit?
Former prime minister Justin Trudeau stood up in Parliament and accused India of being behind the Surrey, B.C., murder three months after it occurred, triggering a diplomatic rift between Ottawa and New Delhi that lasted more than two years.
Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree’s office on Wednesday declined to say whether there has been any change to the working theory that the Indian government ordered the assassination as part of a larger campaign of transnational repression, and whether the Canadian government still believes New Delhi was ultimately behind the killing.
News from the United States Tuesday that Mr. Bishnoi, the leader of the India-based Bishnoi gang who has been imprisoned in India for more than a decade, has been charged in connection with the murder of Mr. Nijjar has sparked questions about whether Canada is still trying to prove the involvement of the government of India.
Bishnoi gang leader charged in connection with slaying of Nijjar
Simon Lafortune, press secretary to Mr. Anandasangaree, declined to discuss the investigation.
“At this stage, it would be inappropriate to speculate or comment on investigative theories while the RCMP’s work continues. The focus remains on ensuring accountability for those responsible for Nijjar’s death and supporting a thorough and independent process,” he said in a statement.
“Canadian law enforcement continues to pursue this investigation with great care and diligence, guided by evidence and the rule of law. As the RCMP has indicated, the investigation remains active and ongoing.”
Mr. Lafortune noted four Indian citizens were arrested in the spring of 2024 and charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in Mr. Nijjar’s shooting. Their trial is expected to start as early as next summer in B.C. Supreme Court.
The Globe and Mail also asked the RCMP about the link to the Indian government but the force did not immediately respond to the request for comment.
Former prime minister Justin Trudeau, seen here with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, at a 2022 meeting in Germany, accused India of being behind the Surrey, B.C., murder three months after it occurred, triggering a diplomatic rift between the two countries.LUDOVIC MARIN/Getty Images
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government, eager to rekindle ties with India as part of its effort to shift trade away from an increasingly unpredictable United States, has repeatedly tried to separate Canada-India relations from the Nijjar investigation by saying the investigation and legal process are handled independently.
The RCMP commissioner reports to the Minister of Public Safety but is “autonomous when it comes to the operational and investigative activities of the organization,” as federal government briefing books for the minister have stated.
Mr. Carney hopes to conclude a free trade deal with New Delhi this year.
An indictment filed in U.S. court July 1 and unsealed Tuesday alleges Mr. Bishnoi and his alleged North American deputy Satinderjeet Singh, also known as Goldy Brar, “ordered the assassination” of Mr. Nijjar on June 18, 2023, at his gurdwara. This stems from a U.S.-led international investigation named “Operation Hard Ball” that included the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The multiyear investigation probed three separate Indian crime organizations that engage in racketeering, killings, shootings, extortion, drug trafficking and other crimes across the globe. In total, 37 suspects were charged and 24 were arrested, including three in Canada.
The U.S. indictment accusing Mr. Bishnoi and his associate of ordering Mr. Nijjar’s assassination is silent, however, on the suggestion that agents of the Indian government were behind the killing.
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RCMP Deputy Commissioner Lisa Moreland, during an appearance on CBC’s Power & Politics Tuesday, said nothing in the “Operation Hard Ball” investigation points to India’s involvement in Mr. Nijjar’s killing. “Nothing has come out today to link the Indian government” to the matter, she said.
She was only talking about that particular organized crime investigation but her comments, and the charges against Mr. Bishnoi in relation to Mr. Nijjar’s death, have fueled suggestions in India that the Canadian government needs to reconsider its past conduct toward the country.
Sanjay Verma, the previous Indian high commissioner to Canada, on Wednesday called on Ottawa to reassess its behaviour of recent years. He was expelled by Canada in the fall of 2024 along with five other Indian diplomats and later retired from his country’s foreign service.
“An important question arises: if the publicly disclosed investigation does not attribute the crime to Indian state actors, should there now be a reassessment of the diplomatic actions taken against Indian officials and diplomats?” Mr. Verma said in a statement.
“Allegations of Indian state involvement were at the heart of the unprecedented diplomatic crisis between Canada and India in 2023–24," he said. “Those allegations led to the expulsion and persona non grata designation of senior Indian officials and diplomats, a sharp curtailment of diplomatic engagement, and the most serious deterioration in bilateral relations between the two countries in decades.”
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A recently released RCMP briefing, obtained through the federal access-to-information law, shows that, in 2024, the Mounties suspected the Indian government was involved in the murders of at least two Sikh separatist activists in Canada. The documents also say that India plotted to kill three other Canadians after allegedly orchestrating the killing of Mr. Nijjar.
The Globe and Mail has previously reported that Canadian national-security officials were also presented with evidence that Indian consular staff operating in Vancouver supplied information to assist in Mr. Nijjar’s killing.
Stephanie Carvin, a former national security analyst who is now a Carleton University professor, said it’s unclear whether Canada will ever present evidence that India was the mastermind of the Nijjar slaying.
She said the Canadian system has a difficult time converting collected intelligence into court-ready evidence.
“The idea that we could bring forward and prosecute individuals for having done this, or that the RCMP could bring forward evidence to prosecute this, may very well be low, but that’s very different from saying there is no evidence that could link the killings to the government of India.”
With files from Mike Hager