Canadian officials charged a fourth Indian national in connection with the 2023 Vancouver killing of a separatist Sikh leader.
Before Amandeep Singh, 22, was charged with “first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder” in the death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, he was already being detained on unrelated firearms allegations.
This month, three more Indian nationals were taken into custody.
A diplomatic spat between Ottawa and New Delhi resulted from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s linking of Indian intelligence to the murder.
Nijjar has pushed for the creation of Khalistan, a distinct Sikh state, to be split off from India. Nijjar emigrated to Canada in 1997 and was granted citizenship in 2015.
Authorities in India had been looking for him on charges of “terrorism” and murderous plot, both of which he refuted.
On June 18, 2023, he was shot and killed in the parking lot of the suburban Vancouver Sikh temple he was leading by masked assassins.
A few months later, Trudeau declared that Canada had “credible allegations” linking the killing to Indian intelligence.
Claiming that the accusations were “absurd,” India reacted angrily, temporarily limiting Canadian visa availability and compelling Ottawa to remove its ambassadors.
