Canada arrests alleged hitmen in killing of Sikh separatist

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Canadian police said Friday that they have made three arrests in the slaying of a Sikh separatist leader last June in suburban Vancouver that become the center of a diplomatic spat with India.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner David Teboul said three suspects have been arrested and charged in the slaying of 45-year-old Hardeep Singh Nijjar by masked gunmen in Surrey outside Vancouver. But he said police could not comment on nature of the evidence or the motive. “This matter is very much under active investigation,” Teboul said.

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.

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.

The three suspects are Kamalpreet Singh, Karan Brar and Karampreet Singh and were arrested in Edmonton, Alberta, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superintendent Mandeep Mooker said.

“This investigation does not end here. We are aware that others may have played a role in this homicide and we remain dedicated to finding and arresting each one of these individuals,” Mooker said.

[An assassination plot on American soil reveals a darker side of Modi’s India]

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.

Check back for udpates on this developing story.