New Delhi: Two 16-year-olds have been detained and charged in the case of shots fired at the residence of a close associate of slain separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Canadian police said, ruling out allegations of a “foreign hand”.
Pro-Sikh separatist groups in Canada had decried the attack that occurred in the early hours of 1 February, 2024, alleging that the Indian government may have been behind the shooting. The Surrey Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) made it clear Tuesday that their probe found no foreign interference in the matter.
The RCMP statement said: “On February 1, 2024, at approximately 1:21 a.m., Surrey RCMP received a report of shots fired at a residence in the 2800-block of 154 Street. At the time of this incident, there was speculation circulating that this was connected to foreign interference. Investigators have not established any links to foreign interference in relation to this matter.”
The statement added, “On February 12, 2024, two 16-year-old males were arrested and the BC Prosecution Service approved charges of Discharging a Firearm into a place and Possessing a Loaded Prohibited Firearm. The youths are currently being held in custody awaiting their next court appearance.”
Two 16 year-old boys have now been charged in connection with a shots fired incident at a residence on Feb 1 in the 2800-block of 154 St. The youths are currently in custody awaiting their next court appearance. News Release: https://t.co/21ms9pSZIC pic.twitter.com/7MHNNkfObk
— Surrey RCMP (@SurreyRCMP) February 20, 2024
On 1 February, shots were fired at the residence of Simranjeet Singh — an individual pro-Sikh separatist groups in Canada claimed to be a close associate of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Singh helped organise a pro-separatist protest outside the Indian consulate in Vancouver on 26 January, 2024.
Moninder, a spokesperson for the British Columbia (B.C.) Gurdwaras Council, had alleged the Indian state had a role to play in the attack.
“[Simranjeet] feels like this is the Indian state, or their actors, that are playing their part here to kind of scare them off from… the activism work that he’s doing,” said Moninder Singh to CBC News.
The Surrey RCMP has made it clear since the start of the investigation into the incident that its investigators believed this was an “isolated” incident.
Ties between New Delhi and Ottawa have been strained since September 2023, when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his government was pursuing an investigation into the potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Nijjar — a designated terrorist in India — was shot dead outside the premises of a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia on 18 June, 2023.
India called the allegations “absurd and motivated”. Canada then removed 41 diplomats and their dependents from India, after the India government accused their consulates of “continuous interference”.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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