Ashitha Nagesh
Community Affairs Correspondent

West Midlands Police have confirmed that they are not opening an investigation into the death of Sikh separatist activist Avtar Singh Khanda.

Khanda died on 15 June in Birmingham after a sudden illness.

In the wake of the Canadian government’s announcement that they have credible evidence of Indian involvement in the death of another Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Khalistan-supporting groups in the UK have repeated calls for an investigation into Khanda’s death.

In a statement on Tuesday, West Midlands Police told BBC News: “Following speculation surrounding the death of Avtar Singh Khanda, a thorough review was undertaken by West Midlands Police which concluded that there were no suspicious circumstances.”

Image source, Reuters

The leaders of both of Canada's biggest opposition parties put aside political differences and expressed anger at the allegations.

Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Conservative Party said yesterday, external that the allegations, if true, "represent an outrageous affront to Canada's sovereignty".

"We call on the Indian government to act with utmost transparency", his statement added.

Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the New Democrats Party (NDP) that backs Trudeau's Liberals - and a Sikh himself - posted on social media, external yesterday that he will "leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of justice, including holding Narendra Modi accountable".

As we've been reporting, India has rejected the allegations as "absurd" and "politically motivated".

Image source, Reuters

After Trudeau's comments in parliament on Monday, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly confirmed she had expelled a top Indian diplomat.

She went on to give a statement saying the "allegations that a representative of a foreign government may have been involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen here on Canadian soil... [are] not only troubling but it is completely unacceptable".

Joly also sent her condolences to the family of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

She said that she has told the Indian foreign minister that Canada expected India's full colloboration to make sure that "we get to the bottom of this".

Simon Fraser
Asia online editor

Justin Trudeau went public about India’s alleged role in Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder a week after a very awkward visit to Delhi. Relations between two key US allies were clearly on the slide at the G20 summit – but few would have predicted quite how seriously.

Days before he flew in, Trudeau unexpectedly paused talks on a trade treaty with India.

Eyebrows were then raised after he skipped a weekend dinner. When he did meet India’s PM, there was no bilateral meeting - just five minutes on the sidelines and no trademark hug from Narendra Modi. The Canadian PM only got a handshake - and some observers thought he was quick to pull out of that.

Image source, EPA

Afterwards, Trudeau said Canada would always defend "freedom of expression" while acting against hatred. India accused Canada of promoting secessionism.

Trudeau heard similar Indian concerns when he visited in 2018 - observers even asked if he’d been cold-shouldered. But at least he left on time - on this latest occasion, his aircraft broke down and he had two unplanned days during which to cool his heels after the summit.

Reports say no further meetings with India's government happened and he stayed in his hotel room - so he will have had plenty of time to think through his options before flying home.

If you're just joining us, here's a recap developments in the row between Canada and India:

• Relations between India and Canada have deteriorated after Canadian PM Justin Trudeau said there were "credible allegations" that the Indian state may be linked to the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June
• India has denied the accusation, calling it "absurd" and politically motivated
• Canada has expelled top Indian diplomat, Pavan Kumar Rai, over the row. India has also expelled a senior Canadian diplomat
• Britain says it is in close touch with Canada about the "serious allegations"
• The US has said it was "deeply concerned" and called for the perpetrators be brought to justice
• Nijjar's son, Balraj Nijjar, said he was surprised by Trudeau's remarks because the family felt "like nothing has been done" in the three months since the shooting
• The World Sikh Organisation of Canada condemned the killing and called on India to cooperate with the Canadian government over the investigation

Justin Trudeau's assertions about the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar were "absurd", India's foreign ministry has said.

"Similar allegations were made by the Canadian Prime Minister to our Prime Minister, and were completely rejected," the ministry said in a press release.

India urged the Canadian government to take "prompt and effective legal action against all anti-India elements operating from their soil".

On the evening of 18 June, Canadian police found Hardeep Singh Nijjar with multiple gun shot wounds in his pick-up truck, which was in the car park of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara temple in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.

Nijjar succumbed to his injuries at the scene and local police later said that he had been shot by two masked men.

Nijjar was the temple's president and a prominent Sikh leader who publicly campaigned for Khalistan - the creation of an independent Sikh homeland in the Punjab region of India.

Months later, his killing remains unsolved.

Image source, Integrated Homicide Investigation Team

Image source, Reuters

Hardeep Singh Nijjar's son, Balraj Nijjar, reacted to Justin Trudeau's remarks at a memorial for his father on Monday, according to Canada's Global News.

He said he was surprised by Trudeau's statement because the family had been feeling "like nothing has been done" in the three months since the shooting.

Balraj Nijjar, 21, said that "he and his father were warned of potential danger for months" before he was shot dead, not giving any other details.

"Hopefully, Mr Trudeau and the rest of the Canadian leaders take a stand," he added.

Speaking at the memorial in the city of Surrey, British Columbia, where his father was shot dead, Balraj Nijjar said that the death has been hard for the family:

“You generally don’t expect something like this to happen even in terms of like age, because he’s only 45.

"If it were something like natural causes, it might be a little bit easier to believe and convince yourself of, but the way it went down."

Image source, Getty Images

Sikh separatist groups - mainly in the diaspora - have been calling for a separate homeland called Khalistan to be carved out of India for decades.

This is a sensitive and red line issue for the Indian government, which accuses many of these groups of terrorism - an allegation they deny.

Canada has the largest number of Sikhs outside India's Punjab region and has been the site of numerous pro-Khalistan protests, affecting relations between the two countries in recent years.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi complained publicly to his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau about the issue at the G20 in Delhi earlier this month. Trudeau responded that Canada supported peaceful protests and freedom of expression.

Nijjar was a prominent Sikh leader in British Columbia and a vocal backer of a separate Khalistani state. Supporters of his have said that he had been the target of threats in the past because of his activism.

With over 770,000 Sikhs, Canada is home to the largest Sikh diaspora outside the state of Punjab. On 8 July, hundreds gathered to protest Hardeep Singh Nijjar's death in Toronto outside India's High Consulate building. They were met with a smaller counter protest in support of the Indian government.

On Monday, Tejinder Singh Sidhu, president of the World Sikh Organisation of Canada, said: “India cannot be allowed to disregard the rule of law and the sovereignty of foreign states.

"The killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar and other Sikh activists were terrorist acts that must be condemned by the international community."

Sidhu also called on India to honour its international obligations and cooperate with Canadian government over the investigation.

He also said the Sikh community would not be "intimidated or frightened by the actions of the Government of India".

As we've been reporting, the Indian government has denied involvement in the death, calling any allegations of violence absurd and politically motivated.

Image source, Reuters

Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead outside a Sikh temple on 18 June in Canada, at the age of 45.

He was born in Bharsinghpur village in Punjab's Jalandhar, and moved to Canada in 1997.

First he worked as a plumber, and later became a prominent Sikh leader in the western Canadian province of British Columbia.

India designated him a terrorist in 2020, for his alleged links to Khalistan Tiger Force - a group campaigning for independent Khalistan in the Punjab region of India.

His supporters called these accusations "unfounded" and said that he had been the target of threats in the past because of his activism.

Reports in the Indian media say he was working on organising an unofficial referendum in India for an independent Sikh state at the time of his death.

Nijjar is the third prominent Sikh figure to have died unexpectedly in recent months.

On Monday Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the Canadian parliament that the Indian government could be behind the fatal shooting of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Nijjar was shot dead in June outside a Sikh Temple in British Columbia.

You can watch Trudeau's speech above.

The Khalistan movement can be traced back to the time India achieved independence from British rule in 1947.

Some Sikh groups began demanding a separate homeland for followers of the faith. Sikhs are a religious minority that make up about 2% of India's population.

The movement was at its peak in the 1980s in the northern Indian state of Punjab, which witnessed several violent attacks and deaths.

It lost steam after Indian armed forces ran special operations against the movement - but supporters in the diaspora community continued their calls for a separate state, which have intensified in recent years.

India has strongly opposed the Khalistan movement. All mainstream political parties, including in Punjab, have denounced violence and separatism.

A UK government spokesperson says that Britain is in close touch with its Canadian partners about "serious allegations" related to the murder of Nijjar.

Aleem Maqbool
Religion editor

The backdrop to the tension between Delhi and Ottawa is the increasing pressure the Indian administration has put on governments of the three countries with sizeable Sikh populations: Canada, Australia and the UK.

It has openly said that a failure to tackle what it calls “Sikh extremism” would be an obstacle to good relations.

Australian officials said they would look into incidents where Hindu temples were vandalised and daubed with pro-Khalistan graffiti, but would not stop Australian Sikhs expressing their views on an independent homeland.

Canada is the country towards which there has long been the most open criticism in Delhi for a failure to oppose the pro-Khalistan movement there. While Justin Trudeau resolved to stop violence, he also pushed back against “foreign interference”.

Correction 3 October 2023: A reference to a group potentially behind the vandalism has been removed.

There have been lots of developments in the past 24 hours.

On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made his accusation that there appeared to be a "credible" link between Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar's death and the Indian state.

Canada's foreign minister then said a top Indian diplomat, Pavan Kumar Rai, had been expelled over the case.

In a tit-for-tat move, India on Tuesday expelled a senior Canadian diplomat as the row between the two countries escalated.

On Monday, Canada PM Justin Trudeau informed parliament that the country's intelligence agencies were investigating whether India had killed a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.

Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead outside a Sikh temple on 18 June in British Columbia.

Trudeau said he had raised the issue of Mr Najjar's killing with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the recent G20 summit in Delhi.

On Tuesday, India denied the accusation, calling it "absurd" and politically motivated.

"We are a democratic polity with a strong commitment to rule of law," the Indian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Andrew Humphrey
Live reporter

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage.

Tensions between India and Canada have risen several notches after the Canadian PM Justin Trudeau said there was "credible intelligence" that the Indian state may be linked to the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June.

Ottawa and New Delhi have not seen eye-to-eye for years, as India accuses Canada of harbouring Sikh separatists calling for their own country in India.

I am joined by Ali Abbas Ahmadi, Ece Goksedef, Meryl Sebastian and Cherylann Mollan. Stay with us as we bring you all the latest developments.