- By Nikhil Singh
- Mon, 19 Jun 2023 11:34 AM (IST)
- Source:IANS
JE News Desk: Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who had been declared a 'wanted terrorist' by the Indian government and was based in Canada, was killed by unidentified gunmen in the parking lot of Guru Nanak Sikh Gurudwara in the city of Surrey in Canada’s British Columbia province. He was shot to death by the assailants.
Nijjar was the president of Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara. He hailed from a village in Jalandhar district of Punjab and was associated with the Sikhs for Justice, which has been declared a separatist organisation and is banned in India.
Nijjar had played a key role in organising the Khalistan referendum in Brampton city. The referendum had taken place in the year 2022 and over 1,00,000 people had reportedly turned up to participate in it.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) last year filed a charge sheet against four persons, including Nijjar, in connection with a conspiracy to kill Hindu priest Kamaldeep Sharma in Jalandhar on January 31, 2021. The three others charged in the case are Kamaljeet Sharma, Ram Singh (who allegedly attacked the priest at the directions of Nijjar), and Arshdeep Singh alias Prabh.
According to the NIA, the conspiracy was hatched by accused Arshdeep and Nijjar, both based in Canada, to disturb peace and disrupt the communal harmony in Punjab by killing a Hindu priest. India had asked Canadian authorities to take action against Nijjar for his alleged involvement in terrorist acts in Punjab.
Last year the Punjab Police had sought the extradition of Nijjar as he was wanted in cases related to acts of reviving terrorism in the state. The police were demanding his extradition in pursuance of a lookout circular (LOC) issued on January 23, 2015, and a red corner notice issued on March 14, 2016. Nijjar was designated as an 'individual terrorist' by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in July 2020.
The NIA said Nijjar had been proactively involved in recruiting, training, financing, and operationalising pro-Khalistan terrorist modules for spreading terror in India. He was involved in giving inflammatory and hateful speeches through social media platforms.
Besides these, the NIA had also attached the property of Nijjar in his native village in Punjab in connection with another case. A bounty of Rs 10 Lakh was declared on him.
Nijjar was also the chief of the Khalistan Tiger Force. The slain separatist leader had also been accused of killing Ripudaman Singh Malik, the man who was acquitted in the 1985 Air India terrorist bombing case, in Surrey last year.
(With IANS inputs)
