Four men were arrested in Canada in Nijjar murder: what is the status of the case

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other officials have repeatedly claimed to have provided credible evidence of links between Nijjar’s killers and the Indian government. India has said that not “a shred of evidence” has been provided by Canada over the past year, since Trudeau first alleged an Indian hand in the murder in September 2023.

All four accused, who allegedly played roles as shooters, drivers, and spotters on the day Nijjar was killed, remain in a police holding facility.

This is what has happened since their arrests:

On MAY 3, 2024, Karan Brar (22), Kamalpreet Singh (22), and Karanpreet Singh (28), were arrested in Edmonton, the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta.

All three men were charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the Nijjar case. Police said they had travelled from Edmonton to Surrey to carry out the killing.

None of the men were known to police previously, Superintendent Mandeep Mooker, Officer in Charge of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT), told reporters at the B.C. headquarters of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in Surrey.

Later that day, RCMP Assistant Commissioner David Teboul said the probe included “investigating connections to the Government of India”, and was “certainly not limited to the involvement of the people arrested today”.

According to the RCMP, all three men had arrived in Canada on non-permanent visas over the past three to five years, and were residents of Edmonton.

Karan, who hails from Kotkapura in Punjab, arrived in Canada on a student visa in 2019, when he was still in his teens. Canadian media reported that Bow Valley College in Calgary had said that one Karan Brar had enrolled in 2020 for an eight-month course for a health care clerk, but could not say whether he even attended classes or completed the programme.

Kamalpreet too, arrived in Edmonton in 2019, where his sister lives. Karanpreet was his friend, and shared a home with him. Karan met the two at the wedding of Kamalpreet’s sister in 2023.

FOUR DAYS LATER, on May 7, the three men, wearing orange jumpsuits, appeared before B.C. Provincial Court judge Delaram Jahani. The Provincial Court is the first level of trial court in B.C., below the Supreme Court and the highest court in the province, the Court of Appeal.

Karan and Karanpreet agreed through their lawyers to make a next appearance on May 21. Kamalpreet sought legal representation, and another date was set for him.

Karanpreet’s lawyer Jay Michi said the defence was beginning to wade through a “massive wave” of disclosures from the Crown to find out what could be challenged in court. He said the process would take time.

THE FOURTH SUSPECT, Amandeep Singh (22), was arrested in Brampton, Ontario, on May 11. The Globe and Mail reported that three weeks before Nijjar was shot, Amandeep was charged by Surrey RCMP with dangerous driving and fleeing police.

Court documents showed that Amandeep had signed an undertaking on June 6, 2023, agreeing to appear in court. He had also declared that he did not possess firearms.

Twelve days later, Amandeep allegedly opened fire on Nijjar in the parking lot of the B.C. gurdwara. As per court filings, hours before the shooting, he was seen in the vicinity of the gurdwara, allegedly behaving erratically.

Amandeep first appeared in court on May 15, but the case was adjourned to May 21.

ON MAY 21, all four men appeared together before the Provincial Court for the first time. Karan, Kamalpreet, and Karanpreet appeared in person, while Amandeep appeared by a video link. Judge Emmet Duncan spoke to the men through an interpreter and put them under a “no-contact order”, which is a bar on establishing direct or indirect contact with specified individuals.

The case was adjourned to June 25. On that day, the case was adjourned again to August 7.

ON AUGUST 7, defence lawyers appeared on behalf of their accused clients via video on Microsoft Teams, alongside Crown Prosecutor Louise Kenworthy, who requested another adjournment.

She informed the court that the Crown had been working to provide disclosure to the defendants, but the process was expected to take several more months. Local media in Surrey reported that Kenworthy said the defence had received “in the region of about 10,000 pages of disclosure”, and that the Crown hoped to disclose “about 10,000 more by the end of next week”.

Local media reports said the voluminous nature of the court filings indicated the RCMP had carried out a comprehensive investigation, and that a lengthy trial could follow.

Provincial Court judge Mark Jetté adjourned the matter to October 1. This was the fourth adjournment since May 15.

A FIFTH ADJOURNMENT came on October 1, again on the request of Crown Prosecutor Kenworthy, who appeared in person before Provincial Court judge Jodie Harris. The four defence lawyers appeared virtually before the court, the Surrey Now-Leader reported.

“We have not yet provided all the disclosure to my friends, and we are not at a point where I could say substantive disclosure has been completed,” Kenworthy said. “I will advise the court that options are being considered for the transfer of the file to Superior Court. So those are the two matters unfolding, which is why I’m asking for the long adjournment today.”

The judge adjourned the case to November 21. She agreed with Kenworthy’s request to mark the next date as a fixed date and not a bail hearing, “given this court doesn’t have jurisdiction to determine bail on this matter”.