NEW DELHI: US-based gangster Goldy Brar has allegedly admitted to orchestrating the killing of pro-Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada in June 2023, saying he targeted Nijjar over his alleged involvement in drug trafficking and the promotion of drug abuse among teenagers.
In a leaked audio conversation with pro-Khalistan terrorist Paramjit Singh Pamma, Brar is heard claiming responsibility for Nijjar’s murder. Intelligence sources have confirmed that the voice in the recording is Brar’s.
Nijjar’s killing triggered a major diplomatic crisis between India and Canada after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that Indian agents may have been linked to the assassination. India denied the allegation.
According to the leaked conversation, Brar said Nijjar’s alleged role in encouraging young people to sell drugs had angered him.
“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 is heard telling Pamma.
“That’s why me and my team had to kill Nijjar, because these people were using young people to sell drugs. Good or bad, everyone has to face the consequences of their actions,” he added.
The revelation comes in the wake of Operation Hardball, a joint US-Canada law enforcement crackdown targeting transnational crime syndicates. An indictment linked Brar and gangster Lawrence Bishnoi to the alleged orchestration of Nijjar’s killing, presenting the case as a gangland assassination rather than a state-sponsored operation.
The circumstances of the killing had also prompted Canadian investigators to examine possible gang rivalry. Initial police probe reportedly found that a contract to kill Nijjar had been circulating for weeks on an encrypted online platform used to hire hitmen.
Nijjar, 45, was shot dead on June 18, 2023, in the parking lot of Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Newton, Surrey. Investigators said six men and two vehicles were involved in the attack. CCTV footage showed Nijjar’s grey pickup truck and a white sedan travelling parallel through the gurdwara parking lot moments before the shooting.
Nijjar was the head of the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) and was later succeeded by his confidant Arshdeep Singh, alias Arsh Dala.
In the latest audio, Brar is also heard claiming responsibility for the killing of Dala’s close associate, Sukhdool Singh, alias Sukha Duneke, who was murdered in the Winnipeg area in September 2023.
