Gun attack on Pro-Khalistan figure linked to Nijjar in California

Toronto: The car carrying an associate of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the pro-Khalistan figure killed last year, was fired upon multiple times this month. Satinder Pal Singh Raju, also among the main organisers of the recent so-called Khalistan Referendum in Calgary, was a passenger in the pick-up truck that was targeted on a highway in California on August 11.
Meanwhile, in another incident a day earlier, the residence of a former president of the gurdwara that Nijjar led till the time of his death, was also fired upon in Surrey, British Columbia.
Raju was associated with the secessionist group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) and its general counsel Gurpatwant Pannun described him as “close associate” of Nijjar and “an active organiser” of Khalistan Referendum. He said Raju had “survived a deadly ambush when the truck he was travelling in was sprayed with bullets by the shooters.”
According to an incident report of the California Highway Patrol, seen by the Hindustan Times, there were reports of ‘4-5 shots” fired while the vehicle was in Woodland in Yolo county.
Pannun said that after Nijjar’s killing on June 18 last year in Surrey, Raju had camped in the town till October and helped organise the referendum held there in 2023 as well as that in Calgary, Alberta, on July 28 this year.
Pannun accused the Indian government of targeting Raju and engaging in “transnational repression to violently suppress the global Khalistan Referendum campaign.” No arrests have been announced with regard to the incident by law enforcement nor any motive attributed.
Meanwhile, on August 10, the home of Raghbir Nijjar, former president of the Guru Nanak Sikh temple in Surrey, was fired upon several times.
While it did not identify the owner of the residence, in a release on August 13, the Surrey detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or RCMP, said it occurred at 3:10 am. “Evidence consistent with a shooting was located at the scene along with evidence of an attempted arson,” the release added.
It also said it “believes this incident may be linked to the extortion series”, which has involved numerous such shootings targeting Indo-Canadian businesses and individuals over the past year.
Raghbir Nijjar, a person familiar with the incident told the Hindustan Times, was from the same village as Hardeep Nijjar and they are believed to be related. He is also attempting to become the president of the gurdwara again, the person said.
Nijjar’s murder led to fracturing of relations between New Delhi and Ottawa after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement in the House of Commons three months later that there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and the killing. India has dismissed those allegations as “absurd” and “motivated.”
Four Indian nationals have been arrested by Canadian investigators this year in connection with the murder. However, they have yet to provide evidence of the Indian connection though that angle continues to be probed.
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