New Delhi: Canada's Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has said there is "no evidence to suggest" that Indian officials were linked in any way to the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
The statement came hours after US authorities announced what they described as the "largest-ever" action against India-based transnational organized crime networks under the FBI-led 'Operation Hard Ball', charging gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Satinderjeet Singh, alias Goldy Brar, with ordering Nijjar's assassination in Canada in June 2023.
While Bishnoi has been in jail in India since 2015, the FBI announced a reward of $50,000 for information leading to Brar's arrest.
RCMP Deputy Commissioner Lisa Moreland told Canadian public broadcaster CBC News that there was no evidence to suggest that, through this organized crime syndicate investigation and the charges laid, Indian government officials would be charged or implicated. "Nothing has come out to link the Indian government," she said.
Moreland said the Indian government had cooperated with the investigation. She added that the investigation was continuing based on the arrests and seizures made during Operation Hard Ball.
Under a coordinated hunt named 'Operation Hard Ball', the law enforcement agencies of the US, Canada and Europe arrested 24 people for their alleged links to three India-based organized crime groups, including the Bishnoi gang.
Nijjar was the chief of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) and was designated a terrorist by India. In October 2024, New Delhi recalled its high commissioner and five other diplomats after Ottawa attempted to link them to the Nijjar case, and expelled an equal number of Canadian diplomats. However, ties have improved since Mark Carney succeeded Justin Trudeau as prime minister.
