Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press through AP
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Canadian police stated they arrested three suspects Friday within the slaying of a Sikh separatist chief final June that grew to become the middle of a diplomatic spat with India, and are investigating potential ties between the detainees and the Indian authorities.
Three Indian nationals of their 20s recognized as Kamalpreet Singh, Karan Brar and Karampreet Singh had been arrested in Edmonton, Alberta on Friday morning in the slaying of 45-year-old Hardeep Singh Nijjar by masked gunmen exterior Vancouver, police stated.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sparked a diplomatic feud with India in September when he stated that there have been “credible allegations” of Indian involvement within the slaying of Nijjar.
India had accused Nijjar of hyperlinks to terrorism, however angrily denied involvement within the slaying. In response to the allegations, India instructed Canada final 12 months to take away 41 of its 62 diplomats within the nation. Tensions stay however have considerably eased since.
The three suspects had been residing in Canada as non-permanent residents, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superintendent Mandeep Mooker stated Friday at a information convention in Toronto.
“We’re investigating whether or not there are any ties to the federal government of India,” Mooker stated, including that it was an “ongoing investigation.”
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner David Teboul stated Canadian authorities are chatting with counterparts in India. “I might characterize that collaboration as fairly difficult,” he stated. “It has been very troublesome.”
The three males had been anticipated to be transported to British Columbia by Monday to face fees of first-degree homicide and conspiracy to commit homicide.
Nijjar, an Indian-born citizen of Canada, was a plumber and likewise a frontrunner in what stays of a once-strong motion to create an unbiased Sikh homeland, referred to as Khalistan. However he had denied allegations of ties to terrorism.
A bloody decadelong Sikh insurgency shook north India within the Nineteen Seventies and Eighties, till it was crushed in a authorities crackdown by which 1000’s of individuals had been killed, together with distinguished Sikh leaders.
The Khalistan motion has misplaced a lot of its political energy however nonetheless has supporters within the Indian state of Punjab, in addition to within the sizable abroad Sikh diaspora. Whereas the energetic insurgency ended years in the past, the Indian authorities has warned repeatedly that Sikh separatists had been making an attempt to make a comeback.