A member of the gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, where local Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar was president before he was shot dead in June, said police warned him last month that his life was in danger.
Published yesterday at 9:56 p.m.
Camille Bains The Canadian Press
Gurmeet Toor, who said he was a close friend of Mr Nijjar, said he was surprised when two police officers knocked on his door at around 11.30pm on August 24 to hand him a “duty to warn” letter , in which they lost their lives could be in danger.
“I thought, ‘What have I done? “I asked who was behind the threat and they said they couldn’t answer that question,” Mr Toor said in Punjabi.
Mr. Toor is a member of the management committee of the same Sikh temple where Mr. Nijjar was shot and fought for the unofficial referendum on Khalistan, a separate homeland that some Sikhs want separated from India’s Punjab province.
Police advised Mr. Toor to be careful, avoid gatherings and move to a safer location, but they would not provide details of the threat, he told La Canadian Press.
The warning came weeks before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on September 18 that Canadian intelligence agencies were investigating “credible” information about “a possible link” between Mr. Nijjar’s killing and the Indian government.
India, which issued an arrest warrant for Mr Nijjar over his advocacy for a separate Sikh state, has rejected the allegations against him, calling them “absurd and politically motivated”.
Mr. Toor said the youngest of his three children lives elsewhere after the BC Children’s Ministry advised him to do so following the police visit.
“It’s hard that one of our children was taken from us,” he said.
But Mr Toor said he had decided not to live in fear.
“I have done nothing wrong. I am a hard-working taxpayer, community volunteer and small business owner. I only speak about Sikh sovereignty,” Mr Toor said of his campaign work during the Khalistan referendum.
Mr Nijjar had helped organize the referendum before his death.
A statement attributed to Mr. Toor and released by the group Sikhs for Justice said he asked whether the police officers, who had warned him of the threat to his life, could provide him with a bulletproof vest, but they said they could illegal.
“Police told me that the fact that she came to me at that time of night should be taken as an indication that the (threat) was really serious,” it said.
Mr Toor said he believed two other members of Surrey’s Sikh community had also received “duty to warn” letters, but declined to give details.
In July, Mr. Toor joined community members, including Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s son, in a virtual meeting with then Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino and two Liberal MPs from Surrey to express their concerns about the possibility of Indian government involvement in the murder . he said.
He said he has since attended three more meetings, including with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Integrated National Security Teams led by the RCMP.
Mr. Toor argued that Mr. Trudeau’s explosive statement about possible Indian involvement in Mr. Nijjar’s assassination should lead to the expulsion of the Indian high commissioner to Canada.
He said he joined the group Sikhs for Justice this week to formally make the request in a letter to Mr. Trudeau and all federal political leaders.