Explosive new evidence obtained through intercepted communications shared by Canadian and British intelligence agencies directly links high-ranking Indian officials — including Amit Shah, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s closest aide — to the 2023 assassination of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, Global News has confirmed.
According to multiple intelligence sources, British intelligence first alerted Ottawa that it had intercepted communications connecting Indian government officials to the killing. Canada later corroborated the intercepts independently, confirming the involvement of senior Indian figures in what Ottawa now considers a state-directed assassination on Canadian soil.
The classified intelligence, reportedly shared through the Five Eyes network — the intelligence-sharing alliance between Canada, the U.K., the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand — is said to represent the most direct link yet between New Delhi and Nijjar’s murder.
“This is the gold standard of alliances,” said Dan Stanton, a former senior officer with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). “When Five Eyes intercepts are backed by domestic corroboration, it carries immense credibility.”
The Intelligence Trail
The revelations first surfaced in a Bloomberg report earlier this week, which Global News has now verified and expanded upon. British intelligence reportedly detected communications involving Indian officials discussing plans to assassinate Nijjar, along with two other Sikh activists — one in the U.S. and another in the U.K.
Subsequent wiretaps confirmed the operation’s success, with one intercepted conversation reportedly referencing that Nijjar had been “successfully eliminated.”
The 62-year-old Nijjar, who was the president of the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple in Surrey, B.C., and a leading advocate for Khalistan, was gunned down in his vehicle outside the temple on June 18, 2023.
In 2024, the RCMP arrested four men — alleged members of India’s Lawrence Bishnoi gang — in Edmonton and Brampton, charging them as the contract killers in the plot. Investigators have since alleged that the gang operated under the direction of Indian intelligence operatives from the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), which reports directly to Modi’s office.
Diplomatic Fallout and Political Tension
Then–Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly accused India in September 2023, calling the killing of a Canadian citizen an “unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.” India dismissed the claim as “absurd,” triggering a diplomatic crisis that led to the expulsion of six Indian diplomats from Canada.
Despite the ongoing investigation, current Prime Minister Mark Carney has pursued a more conciliatory approach, seeking to repair strained relations. Carney has invited India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Niagara on November 11–12, and Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand recently announced a “New Roadmap for Canada-India relations” following meetings in New Delhi.
The World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO) condemned the government’s outreach to India amid the allegations.
“The inability or refusal to hold India accountable is a betrayal of Sikh Canadians and of Canada’s own sovereignty,” said Balpreet Singh, WSO’s spokesperson. “Rebuilding ties with a government accused of targeting Canadians on Canadian soil is deeply troubling.”
Broader Global Implications
The revelations coincide with growing international scrutiny over India’s alleged involvement in extraterritorial assassinations. In the United States, the FBI uncovered a parallel plot to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a New York-based Khalistan activist and associate of Nijjar. U.S. prosecutors linked the conspiracy to a RAW officer, Vikash Yadav, who allegedly discussed “three Canadian targets” during the operation.
The mounting evidence of India’s transnational repression campaign is likely to place additional strain on Ottawa-New Delhi relations just as Canada seeks to expand trade and diplomatic cooperation in Asia following tensions with Washington.
As the investigation continues, both CSIS and the Indian High Commission have declined to comment. However, intelligence officials privately acknowledge that the wiretap evidence constitutes some of the strongest proof to date of state involvement in Nijjar’s assassination — an act that continues to reverberate through Canada’s Sikh diaspora and international diplomacy alike.
Courtsey Global News