One of the suspects in the alleged killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar has said in a social media video that he entered Canada on a 'study permit' which only took him days to obtain.
The accused, Karan Brar, in a video posted online in 2019, said he applied for a student visa through EthicWorks Immigration Services in Bathinda, in Punjab.
Karan Brar, 22, Karanpreet Singh, 28, and Kamalpreet Singh, 22, were all taken into custody in Canada's Edmonton on Friday, May 1. The three Indian nationals accused of killing Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year appeared before a Canadian court through video on Tuesday for the first time to face homicide charges in a case that has soured Canada-India relations.
They were arrested and charged on Friday with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. They appeared in court in Surrey, British Columbia on Tuesday.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a 45-year-old Canadian citizen, was attacked and shot multiple times in while leaving a gurdwara in Surrey in British Columbia on June 18, last year. Canadian Security Intelligence Service had allegedly cautioned Nijjar about potential threats to his life.
Nijjar's killing had sparked a diplomatic row between Canada and India after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed that Ottawa had credible intelligence linking Indian agents to Nijjar’s killing.
The video of Nijjar's killing that reportedly surfaced in March this year showed Nijjar being shot by armed men in what has been described as a "contract killing." Last week, Canadian police released photographs of all three persons arrested in the killing of India-designated terrorist, Nijjar last year amid an ongoing probe into alleged connections of the Indian government.
Along with photographs of the three accused, the Canadian police also released the photographs of the car believed to have been used by the suspects in the time leading up to the homicide, in and around the Surrey area.
What The Accused, Karan Brar, Said
Karan Brar was seen saying in a video posted in 2019 that he applied for a student visa through EthicWorks Immigration Services in Punjab's Bathinda and received within days. The standard Canada student visa processing time is approximately 7–9 weeks.
EthicWorks Immigration Services had posted the promotional video on its Facebook page carrying a photo of Brar in which he is seen holding a passport with a Canadian study permit inside. The video is now deleted.
Brar said he received his study visa days later, according to a translation of his Punjabi-language statement, Canada-based global news reported.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller has declined to answer questions about how the suspects came to Canada, but online posts indicate that Brar arrived on a student permit three years before the killing.
According to another Facebook page purportedly owned by Brar, he moved to Edmonton on May 4, 2020, after starting his studies at Bow Valley College in Calgary on April 30, 2020, Global News reported.
