Canadian police on Saturday released photographs of all three persons arrested in the killing of India-designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year amid an ongoing probe into alleged connections of the Indian government.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in a statement named the three men, all Indian nationals, as Karanpreet Singh, 28, Kamalpreet Singh, 22 and Karan Brar, 22 and released their photographs. The trio were arrested in Edmonton city in Alberta.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) of Surrey, RCMP on Friday (local time) said that on the morning of May 3, IHIT investigators, with the assistance of members from the British Columbia and Alberta RCMP and the Edmonton Police Service, arrested the three men for the June 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey a suburb in Vancouver.
The trio have now been charged with first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in relation to the homicide.
Along with photographs of the three accused, the Canadian police has also released the photographs of the car believed to have been used by the suspects in the time leading up to the homicide, in and around the Surrey area.
Addressing reporters at a news conference on Friday, RCMP Assistant Commissioner David Teboul, who leads the Federal Policing Program in the Pacific Region, emphasised the active nature of the investigation into Nijjar's murder.
"Three suspects have been arrested and charged for their alleged involvement in the killing of Nijjar.... We are not able to make any comments on the nature of evidence... Nor can we speak behind the motive of murder of Nijjar... However, I will say this matter is very much under active investigation," he said.
"There are separate and distinct investigations ongoing into these matters, certainly not limited to the involvement of the people arrested today, and these efforts include investigating connections to the government of India," Teboul also said.
Police personnel have not given any evidence of any link to India as was being speculated in Canadian media. India has repeatedly denied the allegations, terming them "absurd and motivated."
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was designated a terrorist by India's National Investigation Agency in 2020, was shot and killed as he came out of a Gurdwara in Surrey in June last year.
Also watch: 3 Indians linked with killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar arrested: Canadian police
