A report by The Washington Post has claimed that at least six men and two vehicles were involved in the murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey on 18 June 2022. The Washington Post claims to have reviewed a 90-second recording of the video of the murder and witness accounts, “suggesting a larger and more organised operation than has previously been reported”.
The report details the sequence of events leading up to the murder of Nijjar, which was captured by a Gurudwara security camera. Interestingly, going by the video description in the report, a similar pattern of killing has been observed in cases of gang violence in both Punjab and Canada. The video has been shared with investigators.
According to The Washington Post, Nijjar’s gray pickup truck is seen pulling out of a parking space. A white sedan appears in an adjacent lot, pulls up and drives parallel to the truck.
The vehicles are initially separated by a walkway, the report claims. When the truck speeds up, the sedan matches its pace. Then the truck merges into the sedan’s lane and for a moment they’re side-by-side. As the vehicles approach the parking lot exit, the sedan pulls in front and brakes to block the truck.
Two men in hooded sweatshirts emerge from under a covered waiting area and move toward the truck. Each points a firearm at the driver’s seat. The sedan exits the parking lot and drives out of view. Then the two men run in the same direction, the report claims.
The report has quoted community members saying that investigators have told them that assailants fired about 50 bullets of which 34 hit Nijjar. Another report has further claimed that the two killers who shot Nijjar were Sikhs.
Nijjar murder scoop | 2 killers who shot Nijjar were 'Sikhs'. @gauravcsawant with more details.#news #ITVideo @PoulomiMSaha pic.twitter.com/czbQ7wSFW3
— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) September 26, 2023
The report by The Washington Post also quotes a witness, and gurudwara committee member Malkit Singh, saying that while he did not recognise the gunmen, “he described them as wearing a Sikh get-up with hoodies pulled over small pughs on their heads and masks over their bearded faces. One, Just over five feet tall and heavyset, was struggling to run fast. The other was about 4 inches taller and leaner”, the report says.
Malkit Singh further narrated to The Post that the men ran out of the park to a cul-de-sac and got into a waiting silver car in which three other men were waiting. He reportedly said that he couldn’t see their faces.
The above details falsify Canadian allegations against India even more as no nation would be this sloppy if it wants to neutralise a wanted terrorist on foreign land. No State would launch such an exposed, and vulnerable operation on foreign soil that attracts such global attention. That the attackers were on the loose and were seen by witnesses including Nijjar’s Khalistani aides reveals the many flaws making the accusations weak. Clearly, the sequence of events sounds like a result of gang rivalry.
Moeover, The Washington Post report has quoted “members of the local Sikh community” as saying that Canadian “authorities have told them little about their investigation of the killing”. “They say police were slow to the scene, and disagreement between agencies caused further delay. Several business owners and residents near the gurudwara say investigators have not visited to ask questions of request security video,” the report claims.
Caretaker of the gurudwara Charanjeet Singh reportedly stayed with Nijjar’s body on the spot. He saw men he didn’t recognise recording videos of the scene. According to The Post, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s (RCMP) Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) said the police first received the report of the shooting at 8:27 pm.
WaPo further quotes witnesses as saying that it took between 12 to 20 minutes after the gunshots for the first police officers to arrive. The community members reportedly described the interval as shocking claiming that a large number of police regularly patrol the neighbourhood.
Another witness, Bhupinderjit Singh, quoted by WaPo claimed, “There was an hours-long tussle between Surrey police and the RCMP. They couldn’t decide who would head the investigation, so there was a delay.” There was no response from the RCMP and its homicide investigation, the report says.
The Washington Post claims to have visited 39 businesses and homes along the path the assailants took during their escape. It says, “The majority of those interviewed said they had not been contacted by the authorities.”
It was only on 21 July, more than a month after the shooting that authorities reportedly asked the public for help identifying the two gunmen. On 16 August, they asked for help identifying a silver 2008 Toyota Camry and driver.
As per the report, community members say they’re most concerned that authorities did not offer Nijjar more protection before the killing, and that they have been given little information since. Moninder Singh, the spokesman of the British Columbia Sikh Gurdwara Council, reportedly said Nijjar’s mechanic recently found a tracker in the wheel well of his truck. Moninder says he’s unsure whether the federal agencies have shared the information with local authorities.
The details shared with WaPo by witnesses, most of whom were close aides of Nijjar, point to a lethargic response by Canadian authorities, and a botched up investigation into the murder. On 19 September, Canada expelled an Indian diplomat on baseless allegations of involvement of Indian agents in the murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The charges were levelled by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself in the House of Commons.
India responded in kind by expelling a Canadian diplomat and suspended visa services for Canadian nationals. India has also launched a massive crackdown on Khalistani terrorists in Punjab with the NIA conducting raids on property belonging to Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. The Modi government has also ordered the cancellation of the OCI cards of Khalistanis living abroad.
Canada: Not just den of Khalistani terrorists but hub of gangsters
Besides a den of terrorists, Canada is also a hub of gangsters. According to a report, Canada’s national homicide rate increased for a third consecutive year in 2022. Nearly one-quarter of killings in 2021 were connected to gangs. In 2021, 788 homicides were recorded in Canada, up by three per cent from 2020 marking the highest rate of homicides in Canada since 2005.
A similar pattern of gang-violence has been witnessed in Punjab. On 29 May, just 19 days before Nijjar’s death in Surrey, Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala was shot dead in a similar manner in Mansa, Punjab. Moosewala’s Mahindra Thar SUV was blocked by a car from the front and a shot was fired from a vehicle behind him.
A man carrying an automatic assault rifle then appeared in front of Moosewala’s jeep and fired indiscriminately. Moosewala was shot over 30 times by around eight to ten attackers. The attackers had fled within minutes.
On 27 July this year, a United Nations-designated criminal named Ravinder Samra was shot dead in Richmond, Canada. The 36-year-old gangster was shot many times in the 8000-block of Minler Road, near Blundell.
According to Corporal Sukhi Dhesi of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, Samra’s death was a targeted killing related to the British Columbia gang violence. His brother Amarpreet Samra was killed two months ago in a similar attack in Vancouver.
On 20th September, one of the most wanted criminals by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Sukhdool Singh alias Sukha Duneke, was killed in a gang war in Canada. The Lawrence Bishnoi gang took responsibility for the murder of Sukha Duneke.
Duneke was an associate of Arsh Dalla, a Khalistani terrorist who recently took responsibility for killing Congress leader Baljinder Singh Balli in Moga. Duneke was a member of the Davinder Bambiha gang that was named in Sidhu Moosewala’s murder.
Duneke escaped to Canada in 2017 and was operating his gang activities in India while sitting comfortably in Canada. Duneke was a known Khalistani sympathiser.
