Intel linking Indian agents to Nijjar killing first shared by UK: Report

New Delhi: The United Kingdom was reportedly the first to alert Canada about intelligence suggesting Indian agents were involved in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, as well as in plots to target Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the United States and Avtar Singh Khanda in the UK, according to a Bloomberg report citing sources familiar with the matter.

The report stated that British intelligence shared a document with Canadian authorities in late July 2023. The file, compiled by the UK’s signals intelligence agency — the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) — contained summaries and analyses of intercepted communications.

These intercepted conversations, believed by British analysts to involve individuals acting on behalf of the Indian government, allegedly took place earlier in 2023. They reportedly included discussions about plans to target Nijjar in Canada, Pannun in the US, and Khanda in the UK, the Wire reported.

Hardeep Singh Nijjar was fatally shot in his truck outside a gurdwara in western Canada in June 2023. Around the same time, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun was reportedly the target of a foiled assassination plot in New York.

U.S. prosecutors have since charged an Indian national, Nikhil Gupta, accusing him of plotting the hit on behalf of a former Indian intelligence officer, identified as Vikas Yadav.

Avtar Singh Khanda, died in June 2023 after being hospitalised in the U.K. The official cause of death was recorded as acute myeloid leukaemia, a type of blood cancer. However, his family later sought an inquest, citing a pathologist’s remark that the postmortem results did not entirely rule out the possibility of poisoning.

According to Bloomberg, the British intelligence file was hand-delivered to a secure government facility in Ottawa under strict confidentiality conditions imposed by London.

The document reportedly did not identify Nijjar’s killers or the individuals whose communications had been intercepted. Nonetheless, British analysts are said to have concluded that there was a “strong likelihood” that Nijjar’s killing was part of an operation directed by the Indian state.

According to the Bloomberg report, Canada’s National Security and Intelligence Adviser, Jody Thomas, briefed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau within an hour of receiving the British intelligence file.

The revelation offers additional context to Trudeau’s September 2023 statement publicly accusing Indian agents of involvement in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Following that announcement, then–U.S. ambassador to Canada David Cohen had told Canadian media that the decision was based on “shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners,” which had supported Canada’s position.

A year later, in October 2024, Trudeau reiterated that Canada’s findings were based on “credible intelligence” from its Five Eyes allies but declined to specify which partner provided it. He said Ottawa had been “working with allies over the past weeks and months to ensure that we get to the truth.”

Canadian authorities have since arrested four Indian nationals in connection with Nijjar’s killing, though their trial has not yet commenced.

Meanwhile, Nikhil Gupta — the man accused by U.S. prosecutors of helping organise an attempted assassination of Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun — was arrested in the Czech Republic and later extradited to the United States.

His trial, originally scheduled to begin this month, has been postponed after another change in legal counsel. Prosecutors allege that Gupta knew Nijjar was also one of the targets identified by former Indian intelligence officer Vikas Yadav, whose current whereabouts are unknown.