Did agents of the Indian state kill Hardeep Singh Nijjar?

The claim: The Indian government says it had no part in the killing. On 19 September 2023 its foreign ministry called Canada’s allegations “absurd and motivated”, said “We reject any attempts to connect government of India to such developments”, and urged Canada to act against “Khalistani terrorists and extremists” it says are sheltered there (Scroll). After Justin Trudeau told Canada’s foreign interference inquiry in October 2024 that he had intelligence but not “hard evidentiary proof” when he went public, the ministry said Canada “has presented us no evidence whatsoever” (Scroll). After the July 2026 US indictment, its spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the RCMP’s remarks “are consistent with the recently unsealed US indictment”, which names members of the Lawrence Bishnoi crime group (The Tribune).

The sourced facts, in order:

• 18 June 2023. Nijjar was shot outside the Guru Nanak Sikh gurdwara in Surrey (Global News). The Hogue inquiry’s final report says Canada’s agencies first assessed it as “gang or criminal activity”, and that over the summer “intelligence revealed India’s involvement” (final report, vol. 1, p. 100).
• 18 September 2023. Trudeau told the House of Commons that agencies were pursuing “credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen” (Global News). None of Canada’s allies condemned India, and Canada had not yet shown evidence (Al Jazeera).
• November 2023. A US indictment in the plot against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun alleges that an Indian government employee sent the plotter a video of Nijjar’s body hours after the shooting, and that the plotter said Nijjar “was also the target”. These are allegations, not proven in court (Global News).
• May 2024. Four Indian nationals were charged in Canada with first-degree murder and conspiracy (Global News). They are presumed innocent; the case is pre-trial under a publication ban, and on 24 December 2025 Canada’s Attorney General asked the Federal Court to withhold information as “injurious to international relations and national security” (Global News).
• 14 October 2024. Canada said the RCMP had found agents of the Government of India involved in serious criminal activity in Canada (Public Safety Canada) and expelled six Indian diplomats, who the Hogue report says were identified as persons of interest in the Nijjar killing. The RCMP commissioner said the announcement “was not about the Nijjar case specifically” (The Week, PTI).
• November 2025. Bloomberg reported, and Global News confirmed, that Canadian and British intercepts link Indian officials to the killing. The sources were not named, the UK declined to comment and India denies any role (Global News).
• 7 July 2026. US indictments allege that Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar ordered the assassination of a Sikh leader identified only as “H.S.N.” by 18 June 2023; Global News reports no allegation of an Indian government role. RCMP Deputy Commissioner Lisa Moreland told CBC “There is no evidence through this organised crime investigation” and “nothing has come out today to link the Indian government”, and declined to comment on the case against the four men (ThePrint).
• Misreading. The Hogue report’s words “no definitive link to a foreign state could be proven” concern a disinformation campaign after Trudeau’s announcement, not the killing itself (final report, vol. 1, p. 6).

The Panthic answer: Sikh bodies do not accept that the matter is closed. On 20 September 2023 the Jathedar of Sri Akal Takht Sahib, Giani Raghbir Singh, called Trudeau’s statement “sensational news”, asked the Union government to clarify its position, and tied it to Operation Blue Star, the 1984 killings and the killing of Sikh youth in Punjab (The Tribune). The SGPC executive under Harjinder Singh Dhami resolved that “Everything said by the Prime Minister in Parliament cannot be rejected easily” and that suppressing the case for politics would be “injustice to human rights” (IANS). After the intercept reports, the World Sikh Organization’s Balpreet Singh said failure to hold India accountable is “a betrayal of Sikh Canadians” (Global News). After the July 2026 announcements the Sikh Federation of Canada’s Moninder Singh said police were “on the right track” but that “politically, it feels like we’re courting India”, and Sikhs for Justice’s Pannun said “America knows it, Canada knows it” (CP24). These are positions, not findings.