Ottawa

The killing of terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a leader in a widely denounced separatist cause of Khalistan, has now emerged as a "larger and more organised" operation than previously known, according to footage from the site of the killing reported by the Washington Post.

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The report cites a number of Khalistani separatists, including Moninder Singh, one of the founders of the Sikh Liberation Front (SLF), who claimed that Nijjar's car was bugged with a tracker and that he was purportedly a target. It also quotes the Sikh community members as telling the investigators that the assailants fired about 50 bullets on Nijjar, of which 34 hit the Khalistani terrorist. 

Also read | Explained | India’s dossier details Nijjar’s history of travel, terror and thuggery

Hardeep Singh Nijjar entered Canada in the late 1990s on a fake passport and produced false asylum claims based on fake marriages. He became a Canadian citizen in May 2007. In November 2014, an Interpol Red Corner Notice cited over a dozen criminal cases of murder and other terrorist activities against Nijjar in India. 

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Despite details of the cases being shared with the Canadian authorities, no action was taken. Instead, the Canadian government only put Nijjar on a no-fly list.

How was Hardeep Singh Nijjar killed? Latest report

Nijjar’s killing was captured by a security camera at Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Canada's Surrey.

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A 90-second recording of the video begins with Nijjar’s grey pickup truck pulling out of a parking space, Washington Post reported.

A white sedan appears in an adjacent lot, pulls up and drives parallel to the truck, the report adds.

It further says that when the truck speeds up, the sedan matches its pace. Then the truck merges into the sedan’s lane and for a moment they’re side-by-side. As the vehicles approach the parking lot exit, the sedan pulls in front and brakes to block the truck.

"Two men in hooded sweatshirts emerge from under a covered waiting area and move toward the truck. Each points a firearm at the driver’s seat. The sedan exits the parking lot and drives out of view. Then the two men run in the same direction," the Washington Post report says, following which the paper cites witness accounts of what are deemed to be gunshots.

Also watch | Explained: Who was Hardeep Singh Nijjar and what is his death story?

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A witness told the paper that while he did not recognise the men, they were wearing "a Sikh get-up", with hoodies pulled over small paghs (turbans) on their heads and masks over their "bearded faces."

"They got inside our home and killed our leader," Gurmeet Singh Toor, another separatist figurehead has been quoted as saying by the paper. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an unfounded claim last week and cited "credible allegations" that the agents of the Indian government were involved in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June.

India has called out Trudeau's claim as 'absurd' and expelled a Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move. New Delhi has also suspended visa services for all Canadian citizens.

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