New Delhi/Ottawa, May 13: In the wake of the rising tensions between New Delhi and Ottawa over the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada and reports of another arrest in the case, India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has once again refuted Canada’s allegations of Indian involvement in the killing, and said that Ottawa has not given any material that is worthy enough of being investigated.
Addressing the subject at a press conference in Mumbai, Jaishankar said: “I also read that another arrest has been made…We have long maintained that if any event or violence in Canada has any evidence or information that is relevant to be investigated in India, we are open to investigating it.”
He went on to add: “We have never received anything which is specific and worthy of being pursued by our investigative agencies, and I am not aware that anything has changed in the last few days in that regard.”
On Sunday, Canada’s Integrative Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) made a fourth arrest in the Nijjar case, apprehending 22-year-old Amandeep Singh from British Columbia. Before this, three others were apprehended in Alberta which include Karan Brar, 22, Kamalpreet Singh, 22 and Karanpreet Singh, 28, all residents of the city of Edmonton.
Issuing a statement on the arrest, the IHIT Superintendent Mandeep Mooker said: “IHIT pursued the evidence and gained sufficient information for the BC Prosecution Service to charge Amandeep Singh with first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.”
He added: “This arrest shows the nature of our ongoing investigation to hold responsible those that played a role in the homicide of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.”
The killing of pro-Khalistan leader Nijjar in 2023 ignited tensions that have eroded the diplomatic relationship between India and Canada. The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said that as per credible “allegations”, the Indian intelligence was behind the killing of “a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.”
India had rubbished the statement calling the statement “absurd” and “politically motivated”, and termed it Canada’s “internal matter”. To date, Canada has not provided any evidence on the matter while relations have nosedived further.
