Hardeep Singh Nijjar

Hardeep Singh Nijjar was born on 11 October 1977 at Bhar Singh Pura, in Phillaur tehsil of Jalandhar district, and came to Canada in 1997, according to Wikipedia. Al Jazeera notes he worked for years as a plumber. He became president of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara on 120th Street in Surrey, British Columbia, in 2019, and led the Canadian branch of Sikhs for Justice, organising its referendum campaign for Khalistan.

India's allegations and his denial. India accused Nijjar of leading the Khalistan Tiger Force. A 2016 Indian media report said he ran a "terror training camp" in Mission, B.C., and the RCMP said no information substantiated it, Global News reports. In 2018 India filed a case accusing him of plotting a major attack in Punjab, and Wikipedia records that India designated him under its Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in 2020 and that its National Investigation Agency offered a reward in 2022. Nijjar spoke in favour of Sikh separatism but denied any involvement in violence, and wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling the allegations baseless and fabricated. Wikipedia records that the RCMP briefly detained him in April 2018 and released him without charge.

Key moments

• 18 June 2023: two masked gunmen shoot him in his vehicle in the gurdwara parking lot, just before 8:30 in the evening. He was 45. In a May interview he had spoken of threats, Global News reports, and Wikipedia says he had been warned in 2022 of a possible assassination plot.
• 18 September 2023: Trudeau tells the House of Commons that Canadian agencies are pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing. India denies involvement, calls the claim absurd and motivated, and expels a Canadian diplomat. Canada had expelled Pavan Kumar Rai, the RAW station head in Canada, according to Wikipedia. The US, UK, Australia and New Zealand did not echo the allegation, though they urged a full investigation.
• 29 October 2024: two weeks after Canada expelled the Indian High Commissioner and five other diplomats, Canada's Deputy Foreign Minister, David Morrison, tells a Commons committee that he confirmed to a journalist that Home Minister Amit Shah was the Indian official named in a Washington Post report as having authorised a campaign against Sikh separatists. On 2 November India's foreign ministry called the allegations against Shah absurd and baseless, and accused senior Canadian officials of leaking unfounded insinuations. Scroll notes that no evidence beyond these claims was described.
• 24 December 2025: Canada's Attorney General applies in Federal Court to withhold some national security information from the murder case, arguing disclosure would injure international relations and national security.
• 7 July 2026: the FBI and RCMP announce US indictments. One names Lawrence Bishnoi, jailed in India, and Satinderjeet Singh, known as Goldy Brar, as having ordered the killing of a Sikh leader identified only as H.S.N., whom Global News links to Nijjar. As Wikipedia describes it, the indictment does not allege any role for the Indian government.

The case in Canada. Four men, Amandeep Singh, Karanpreet Singh, Karan Brar and Kamalpreet Singh, are charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Global News reports the case is in a pretrial phase under a publication ban, with no trial date. Global News adds that the RCMP believes India used Bishnoi to arrange the killing, and that India says it has seen no evidence of any role.

Where the accounts stand. Canada's allegation of a link to Indian state agents, India's denial, and a US indictment that names gang leaders and not the Indian government all stand side by side, and none has been tested at trial.