No India role in Nijjar killing: Canada
RCMP’s clarification comes as Canadian and US agencies target Lawrence Bishnoi gang
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has stated that its investigation into the 2023 killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar has found no evidence connecting Indian Government officials to the crime.
The clarification came on Tuesday as Canadian authorities, in coordination with the United States, targeted transnational criminal networks allegedly involved in the murder.
RCMP Deputy Commissioner Lisa Moreland, while briefing on Operation Hard Ball, explicitly ruled out any Indian Government involvement. “There is no evidence through this organised crime investigation and the charges and indictment laid forth that Indian officials were charged or involved in these investigations,” Moreland told CBC News.
She added, “As with any good arrest, there were over 50 search warrants that were conducted today… I firmly state that nothing has come out today to link the Indian government.”
The RCMP’s position marks a clear departure from claims made by then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who in September 2023 alleged in Parliament that Indian officials may have been involved in Nijjar’s killing outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia. Nijjar was a designated terrorist in India.
Trudeau’s remarks triggered a major diplomatic crisis between India and Canada, leading to the expulsion of diplomats on both sides and a sharp deterioration in bilateral ties that lasted nearly two years.
India had consistently rejected the allegations, pointing instead to the growing influence of transnational criminal gangs operating from Canadian soil and the space allegedly provided to pro-Khalistani elements.
On the same day, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed indictments against 24 individuals linked to three major transnational criminal syndicates, including the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which has been charged with orchestrating Nijjar’s assassination.
The other groups named in the indictment are the Jaggu Bhagwanpuria cartel and the criminal syndicate led by Ravinder Singh Dhanda.
Canadian authorities have charged four Indians in connection with the Nijjar killing, though Moreland declined to comment on the details of that parallel case.
Bilateral relations began to stabilise after Mark Carney took over as Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister in March 2025 following Trudeau’s departure. Carney adopted a more pragmatic approach, separating security concerns from broader bilateral engagement.
Carney visited India in March this year for a standalone bilateral summit, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the G7 summit in Canada last year, helping restore normalcy in ties.
The RCMP statement is being seen in New Delhi as a long-awaited course correction that validates India’s consistent position on the issue. Officials had maintained that the Nijjar case was being exploited by elements hostile to India and that criminal gangs, not state actors, were responsible.
