Months after request to Canada, NIA yet to get Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s death certificate

Relations between India and Canada have been strained since September last year after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged the Indian government’s “potential” involvement in Nijjar’s killing. India rejected these charges as being “absurd” and “motivated”.

An NIA officer said Nijjar, who held Canadian citizenship, was the chief of the separatist organisation Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) and was designated a terrorist by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in 2020.

“There are two cases registered with the NIA in which Nijjar was named as one of the accused. To complete the documentation work of their case files, the investigation officer needs to show his (Nijjar’s) death certificate before a Delhi court and that is why they have asked the Canadian government under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to share his death certificate. But instead of sharing it, they have asked the reason for asking it and now replies will be sent to them,” the officer said.

In September 2023, Trudeau told the House of Commons that Canada had credible evidence of the potential involvement of Indian government officials in the killing. He, earlier this month, acknowledged that he had only intelligence and no “hard evidentiary proof”.

In 2022, the NIA had announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh on Nijjar in connection with an attack on a Hindu priest in Jalandhar in 2021. During the investigation, it was discovered that Nijjar had made provocative statements, and posted objectionable content on social media platforms. “The incriminating evidence… gathered substantiates that he is involved in exhorting seditionary and insurrectionary imputations and also attempting to create disharmony among different communities in India,” an NIA document stated.

Nijjar was named in an FIR that the NIA registered in December 2020 when farmers were protesting against the three farm laws in Delhi. Nijjar, along with Gurpatwant Singh Pannun and Paramjit Singh Pamma, was accused of conspiring to create an atmosphere of fear and lawlessness, causing disaffection among people, and inciting them to rise in rebellion against the Government of India.

He moved from Punjab to Canada in 1997, and initially worked there as a plumber. He also got married in Canada and had two sons. He had been the president of the Surrey Gurdwara body since 2020. Nijjar hailed from the Bhar Singh Pura village in the Phillaur subdivision of Jalandhar district, Punjab.

In February 2023, the MHA notified KTF, among others, as a terrorist organisation under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). The MHA said of KTF, “It is a militant outfit and it aims to revive terrorism in Punjab and challenges the territorial integrity, unity, national security and sovereignty of India and promotes various acts of terrorism, including targeted killings in Punjab.”

Nijjar allegedly visited Pakistan in 2013-14 to meet with Jagtar Singh Tara, who is currently serving a life sentence in India for his involvement in the assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh in 1995. Tara had escaped from jail in 2004, but was rearrested in Thailand in 2015 and brought to India.