Canadian police make 3 arrests in Sikh separatist's slaying that sparked a spat with India

FILE – A banner that shows the late Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar is displayed outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib in Surrey, British Columbia, Sept. 18, 2023, where he was gunned down in his vehicle while leaving the temple parking lot. Canadian police said Friday, May 3, 2024, that they have made three arrests in the June slaying. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Canadian police said they arrested three suspects Friday in the slaying of a Sikh separatist leader last June that become the center of a diplomatic spat with India, and are investigating possible ties between the detainees and the Indian government.

Superintendent Mandeep Mooker, Officer-in-Charge of IHIT listens to questions from media during a news conference for an update on the Hardeep Singh Nijjar homicide investigation from June 18, 2023, in Surrey, B.C., Friday, May 3, 2024. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)

Three Indian nationals in their 20s identified as Kamalpreet Singh, Karan Brar and Karampreet Singh were arrested in Edmonton, Alberta on Friday morning in the slaying of 45-year-old Hardeep Singh Nijjar by masked gunmen outside Vancouver, police said.

Superintendent Mandeep Mooker, right, Officer-in-Charge of IHIT speaks to media with Assistant Commissioner David Teboul, centre, during a news conference for an update on the Hardeep Singh Nijjar homicide investigation from June 18, 2023, in Surrey, B.C., Friday, May 3, 2024. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sparked a diplomatic feud with India in September when he said that there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the slaying of Nijjar.

India had accused Nijjar of links to terrorism, but angrily denied involvement in the slaying. In response to the allegatio ns, India told Canada last year to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats in the country. Tensions remain but have somewhat eased since.

The three suspects had been living in Canada as non-permanent residents, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superintendent Mandeep Mooker said Friday at a news conference in Toronto.

“We are investigating whether there are any ties to the government of India,” Mooker said, adding that it was an “ongoing investigation.”

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner David Teboul said Canadian authorities are speaking to counterparts in India. “I would characterize that collaboration as rather challenging,” he said. “It’s been very difficult.”

The three men were expected to be transported to British Columbia by Monday to face charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Nijjar, an Indian-born citizen of Canada, was a plumber and also a leader in what remains of a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland, known as Khalistan. But he had denied allegations of ties to terrorism.

Assistant Commissioner Brian Edwards, Officer-in-Charge of Surrey RCMP Detachment waits to speak during a news conference for an update on the Hardeep Singh Nijjar homicide investigation from June 18, 2023, in Surrey, B.C., Friday, May 3, 2024. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)

A bloody decadelong Sikh insurgency shook north India in the 1970s and 1980s, until it was crushed in a government crackdown in which thousands of people were killed, including prominent Sikh leaders.

The Khalistan movement has lost much of its political power but still has supporters in the Indian state of Punjab, as well as in the sizable overseas Sikh diaspora. While the active insurgency ended years ago, the Indian government has warned repeatedly that Sikh separatists were trying to make a comeback.

Media ask questions to Assistant Commissioner David Teboul, centre, Commander of the Federal Policing Program in the Pacific Region, during a news conference for an update on the Hardeep Singh Nijjar homicide investigation from June 18, 2023, in Surrey, B.C., Friday, May 3, 2024. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)

Media ask questions to Assistant Commissioner David Teboul, centre, Commander of the Federal Policing Program in the Pacific Region, along with Assistant Commissioner Brian Edwards, left, Officer-in-Charge of Surrey RCMP Detachment, and Superintendent Mandeep Mooker, second from the right, Officer-in-Charge of IHIT during a news conference for an update on the Hardeep Singh Nijjar homicide investigation from June 18, 2023, in Surrey, B.C., Friday, May 3, 2024. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)