Arrests in Nijjar killing, commission report refocus India as potential source of foreign meddling

The RCMP in British Columbia said Friday that they had arrested three men and charged them with crimes related to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a pro-Khalistan activist, last year.

Sikhs in Canada who spoke to CBC News have welcomed the arrests, but they also said that many in their community still fear the threat of repercussions for speaking out against what they see as repression and intimidation from the Indian government.

CBC's Evan Dyer breaks down what investigators revealed on Friday about the arrests of three men in connection with the killing of prominent Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C., last June.

In the report, Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue said India had meddled in both the 2019 and 2021 federal elections and that the focus of Indian foreign interference was primarily around diaspora communities here.

CBC chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton speaks with Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc about the foreign interference inquiry's initial report, as well as the arrests made in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Vina Nadjibulla, vice-president of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, told CBC News on Saturday that previous reporting around Indian efforts to influence politics abroad through alleged repression campaigns was seen domestically in India as meddling in their own elections, which are ongoing and set to conclude in June.