A fourth man arrested and charged in the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year.
The province’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) said in a press release on Saturday that 22-year-old Amandeep Singh is already in the custody of Peel Regional Police in Ontario on charges unrelated to firearms.
“The 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,” the police statement said.
Police also confirmed that Singh is an Indian national, sharing his time in Canada in Brampton, Ontario, Surrey, British Columbia, and Abbotsford, British Columbia. He was also previously in custody on firearms charges in Peel, Ontario, IHIT reported. But no further details of the arrest can be released due to ongoing investigations and trials, police said.
Earlier this month, police arrested three Indian nationals – Karanpreet Singh, Kamalpreet Singh and Karan Brar – in Edmonton and charged them with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the death of Nijjar.
Nijjar, 45, who had Canadian citizenship and favoured the creation of Khalistan, was shot dead in June outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb. The death of Nijjar caused tensions between Canada and India, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying credible intelligence links the killing to the Indian government, while Indian officials have denied involvement.
