New Delhi:
Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar has allegedly admitted in a leaked audio clip to killing Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the wanted Khalistani terrorist whose murder outside a Surrey gurdwara in 2023 precipitated one of the worst diplomatic crises between India and Canada. Brar, wanted in India for several murders – including that of singer-songwriter Sidhu Moosewala – was heard boasting in the purported clip that he had Nijjar killed because of the latter’s involvement in the promotion of drug abuse.
Goldy Brar made the claim during a conversation with Khalistani terrorist Paramjit Singh Pamma.
“Those who groomed and incited 16-to-17-year-olds to sell drugs… Those who blackmailed young people into selling drugs and becoming informants… Nijjar supported and strengthened these individuals so that he could use them when necessary,” Brar allegedly told Pamma in the purported clip.
Also read: Betrayal, Brutality, Vulnerability: The Goldy Brar-Lawrence Bishnoi Split
“That’s why we, my team and I, had to kill Nijjar, because these people were using young people to sell drugs. Everyone has to face the consequences of their actions,” he added.
Nijjar was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Canada’s British Columbia. Weeks later, former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau accused India of having a hand in the terrorist’s murder.
New Delhi dismissed the allegation as “absurd”, accusing Ottawa of allowing pro-Khalistani elements to operate from Canadian soil.
Diplomatic ties between India and Canada hit rock bottom following the allegations.
New Delhi recalled its high commissioner and many other diplomats after Ottawa attempted to link them to the Nijjar murder.
Also read: No Evidence Linking Indian Officials To Nijjar Killing: Canada
Relations began to normalise only after Liberal Party leader Mark Carney won the Canadian parliamentary election, ousting Trudeau.
Last month, Canadian investigators said they found no evidence linking Nijjar’s murder with India.
“There’s no evidence to suggest through this organised crime investigation and the charges and the indictment laid forward that Indian officials were charged or involved,” Lisa Moreland, the Deputy Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. She was responding to a specific question on Trudeau’s charges.
Bishnoi has been in jail since 2015. He and Brar had been accomplices in many crimes in India and abroad, though they reportedly parted ways last year.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) last month announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Goldy Brar.
“The FBI is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the arrest of Satinderjeet Singh, wanted for his alleged involvement in the Lawrence Bishnoi Organised Crime Group, which is allegedly engaged in a variety of violent acts in Southern California and across the United States and Canada,” it said in a post on X.
