As pro-Khalistan group leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar's death continues to keep ties between India and Canada at odds, Nijjar's son claimed that his father had multiple meetings with Canadian intelligence officers in the months before he was shot outside a Gurdwara in British Columbia.
21-year-old Balraj Singh Nijjar said that “once or twice a week,” his father met Canadian Security Intelligence Service officers, and claimed that one such meeting took place close to two days before his murder on 18 June, the Vancouver Sun reported.
Moreover, he alleged that another such meeting was scheduled for a few days after his father was shot.
The Quint has reached out to the CSIS to verify the veracity of Nijjar's claims. This story will be updated once a response is received.
In an interview with the Vancouver Sun, Balraj Nijjar claimed that the meetings first started in February 2023, and increased in frequency for the next few months.
Further, he alleged that at a meeting between his father and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 2022, they were informed of threats to his life and added that his father was advised to "stay at home."
Sikh community members who live in proximity of the Gurudwara where the incident took place, reportedly told the US-based daily that attackers arrived in two vehicles and two men in hooded sweatshirts fired roughly "50 bullets," out of which "34 hit Nijjar."
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had alleged the involvement of Indian government officials in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, alleged to be involved in separatist activities.
Trudeau said that Canadian security agencies had "credible" evidence that "agents of the Indian government" had assassinated Nijjar, who was a Canadian citizen.
“And, you know, if they prove to be true, it is a potentially very serious breach of the rules-based international order in which we like to function,” he said. “We think it’s very important to get to the bottom of it,” Cohen said.
Following Trudeau's comments, both Canada and India had expelled each other's top envoys from their respective countries. Later, India also suspended its visa services for Canadians.
India had "completely rejected" the claims and went ahead to publicly declare its concerns at "Khalistani terrorists and extremists, who have been provided shelter in Canada and continue to threaten India's sovereignty and territorial integrity."
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