Canada: Mutiple Shots Fired at House of Hardeep Nijjar's Friend Simranjeet Singh

Multiple shots were fired at the residence of Simranjeet Singh, an associate of slain Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, local media reported on Friday.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) confirmed the incident in South Surrey, reporting no injuries. Police are investigating but pro-Khalistan groups allege Indian involvement, citing Simranjeet’s recent role in organising a protest outside the Indian Consulate.

“Surrey RCMP is advising the public of shots fired incident at a residence in South Surrey. 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. Frontline officers attended the scene and located evidence consistent with a shooting,” police said in a statement, without naming anyone.

Simranjeet Singh “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,” Moninder Singh, spokesperson for the British Columbia Gurdwaras Council, told CBC News.

India-Canada ties soured after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last September said that Ottawa was “actively pursuing credible allegations” that Indian agents were potentially linked to Nijjar’s killing in June. Meanwhile, New Delhi has repeatedly asked Ottawa to furnish solid proof.

India is cooperating with Canada and relations between the two countries are improving after tensions increased over the killing of a Sikh separatist in British Columbia, a top Canadian official said last month. “I wouldn’t describe them (the Indians) as not cooperating. I think we’ve made advancements in that relationship,” Jody Thomas, Trudeau’s ex-national security adviser, told CTV in an interview. “My discussions with my counterpart in India have been fruitful, and I think they’ve moved things forward,” she said.