One of the suspects in the killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, has said in a social media video that he entered Canada on a ‘study permit’ which only took him days to obtain, Canada-based global news reported.
The accused, Karan Brar, in a video posted online in 2019, said he applied for a student visa through EthicWorks Immigration Services in Bathinda, in the Indian state of Punjab.
He said he received his study visa days later, according to a translation of his Punjabi-language statement, as per Global News.
The promotional video featuring Brar and a photograph of him, purportedly from Kotkapura, a city located north of Bathinda, were posted on EthicWorks’ Facebook page, as reported.
“Congratulations Karan Brar for the Canada study visa,” the caption below the video read. “One more happy client from Kotkapura,” reported Global News.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller has opted not to respond to inquiries regarding how the suspects entered Canada, although online posts suggest that Brar arrived on a student permit three years prior to the incident. According to another Facebook page allegedly belonging to Brar, he relocated to Edmonton on May 4, 2020, after commencing studies at Bow Valley College in Calgary on April 30, 2020, as reported by Global News. However, queries regarding this matter have yet to elicit a response from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
Brar, aged 22, along with Karanpreet Singh, 28, and Kamalpreet Singh, 22, were apprehended in Edmonton on Friday. They face charges of murder and conspiracy and appeared in court in Surrey, British Columbia on Tuesday. Members of the Sikh Community from British Columbia reportedly packed a Surrey courtroom on Tuesday as the three Indian nationals accused of Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing made their initial court appearance via video, as per Globe and Mail, a Canada-based news website.
During the court proceedings, as the trio, clad in orange jumpsuits, appeared before the court, pro-Khalistani protesters outside the Surrey provincial court chanted slogans and brandished placards, blaming the Indian government for the killing.
Last week on Friday, the three men were arrested in Edmonton and are charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in relation to the June 2023 shooting of Nijjar, which significantly strained Canada’s relations with India.
Notably, relations between India and Canada have been tense since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Indian government agents of Nijjar’s killing. However, India has dismissed these accusations as “absurd” and “motivated.”
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, designated a terrorist by India’s National Investigation Agency in 2020, was fatally shot outside a Gurdwara in Surrey in June last year. A video purportedly depicting his killing emerged in March this year, showing Nijjar being shot by armed individuals in what has been characterized as a “contract killing.”
Last week, Canadian authorities released photographs of all three individuals apprehended in connection with the killing of India-designated terrorist Nijjar last year, amidst an ongoing investigation into alleged ties to the Indian government. Alongside images of the three accused, Canadian police also disclosed photographs of the vehicle believed to have been utilized by the suspects in the period leading up to the homicide, in and around the Surrey area.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) of Surrey RCMP had stated that on the morning of May 3, IHIT investigators, supported by members from the British Columbia and Alberta RCMP as well as the Edmonton Police Service, arrested the three men for the June 2023 killing of Nijjar.