India's big diplomatic win: Canada says 'no evidence' linking New Delhi to Nijjar killing

India has scored a major diplomatic win on the international stage. After years of diplomatic tensions between India and Canada, Ottawa said on Wednesday (Jul 8) that there was no evidence linking New Delhi to the 2023 killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The announcement comes nearly three years after former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that his country’s security agencies were investigating credible claims of a possible link between Indian agents and the murder. The United States Department of Justice has meanwhile charged gangster Lawrence Bishnoi in connection with Nijjar’s killing.

Also read | 'Most wanted': FBI puts $50,000 bounty on Lawrence Bishnoi aide Goldy Brar after charging him in Hardeep Nijjar murder case

'No evidence' linking Indian government officials to Nijjar killing

In a statement to Canadian TV channel CBC News, Lisa Moreland, Deputy Commissioner, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said that there was "no evidence to suggest that through this organised crime syndicate investigation and the charges laid forward that Indian government officials would be charged or involved in this".

"Nothing has come out to link the Indian government," she noted. The RCMP deputy chief's latest statement directly backs India's resolute denial of the allegations. India, at the time, and since, had rejected Trudeau's allegations as "absurd" and "motivated". Notably, the allegations had led to a souring in the relations between the two nations.

Moreland added that investigations are still underway, based on the arrests and seizures that have taken place. "There's over 50 search warrants that were conducted today, so various intelligence and evidence will be collected through there and devices, and the investigation is ongoing," she said.

Also read | Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldy Brar charged in US over killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar

Transnational operation targets those responsible for Nijjar killing

Khalistani Separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was fatally shot and killed on June 18, 2023, in the parking lot of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia. Three years after the killing, law enforcement agencies in the United States, Canada and Europe arrested 24 people, including 11 in California, in connection with three India-based transnational organised crime groups charged with multiple criminal acts, including Nijjar’s assassination.
Newly unsealed indictments by the US Department of Justice also identified Lawrence Bishnoi, 33, of Punjab, a “gangster long imprisoned in India,” as responsible for Nijjar’s killing. It also charged Satinderjeet Singh, 32, alias Goldy Brar, of Punjab and the North American leader of the Bishnoi enterprise; Rohit Godara, 37, of Rajasthan and the European leader of the Bishnoi enterprise; and Sukhraj Singh Kang, 58, of Punjab. The FBI has also put a $50,000 bounty on Brar.