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Two of the three men charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar arrived in Canada on student visas, according to the Times of India newspaper.
Kamalpreet Singh, 22, and Karan Brar, 22, came to Canada as students from the Indian state of Punjab, their hometowns separated by roughly 100 km. Both men received their visas in 2019 and were, according to the Times of India, from “well off families” with agricultural backgrounds.
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“For us, everything was normal ‘til we received this shock,” Satnam Singh, Kamalpreet’s father said. His son and Karanpreet Singh, the third person charged in the assassination, lived together, but he had not heard of Brar, Satnam said. Karanpreet, 28, is also from Punjab and worked as a driver in Canada.
On Tuesday, the suspects wore orange jumpsuits and briefly responded to questions from B.C. Judge Delaram Jahani in separate appearances at Surrey Provincial Court.
All three men, who were arrested in Edmonton on Friday, face charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in last June’s killing of Sikh separatist Nijjar, whose murder sent Canada’s relations with India into disarray.
Two of the accused were the gunmen while a third drove the getaway vehicle, according to police.
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A person named Karan Brar was enrolled in the eight-month Hospital Unit Clerk program at Calgary’s Bow Valley College in April 2020, a spokesperson for the college told Global News. He reportedly moved to Edmonton soon after. It has not been confirmed that he is the same Karan Brar who was charged in the Nijjar killing.
It was not clear why Brar remained in Canada for years after his studies had ended. In 2019, he appeared in a promotional video for EthicWorks Immigration Services, a consultancy with operations in India and Canada. Speaking in Hindi and Punjabi, Brar endorses the company and says he received a visa within days with their help.
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Nijjar, who was the president of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, was shot dead in his pickup truck when leaving the Surrey temple’s parking lot last June. He was a key organizer of unofficial referendums for an independent Sikh state in India and was regarded by India’s government as a terrorist.
In September, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was credible intelligence potentially linking the Indian government to Nijjar’s killing. India has called the accusation “absurd” and politically motivated.
Protesters from Nijjar’s temple rallied outside the Surrey courthouse on Tuesday and filled the courtroom where the three accused appeared via video.
National Post, with additional reporting from The Canadian Press
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