Will have to wait for...: India's foreign minister S Jaishankar reacts to arrests in Nijjar murder case

Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday reacted to Canada's information that it arrested three Indians for the murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year. Nijjar, 45, was shot dead in June in Surrey. On Friday, the Canadian Police arrested and charged three Indian men with Nijjar's murder. 

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police named the three men as Karanpreet Singh, 28, Kamalpreet Singh, 22, and Karan Brar, 22. They face charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy.

Jaishankar reacts

Reacting to the developments, Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar said he had seen the news of the arrests and added that the suspects "apparently are Indians of some kind of gang background... we'll have to wait for the police to tell us."

Also read | India terms Nijjar investigation results Canada’s internal matter, Ottawa notifies Delhi of arrests

"But, as I said, one of our concerns which we have been telling them is that, you know, they have allowed organised crime from India, specifically from Punjab, to operate in Canada," . the minister said.

Canadian police said they had worked with US law enforcement agencies, without giving additional details, and suggested more detentions might be coming.

India requests 'specific and relevant' evidence

Earlier, the Indian government termed preliminary investigation findings in the Nijjar killing case as an internal matter of Canada while restating its request for "specific and relevant evidence" regarding any alleged involvement of New Delhi.

Also watch | Three arrested in Nijjar murder case, police hint at more arrests

"I understand that the arrests have been made as a result of investigations conducted by the relevant Canadian law enforcement agencies. This issue is internal to Canada and therefore we have no comments to offer in this regard," said Sanjay Kumar Verma, Indian High Commissioner to Canada.

Verma added that he had been informed about the arrests, and hoped to "get regular updates from the concerned Canadian authorities regarding the arrested Indian nationals."

(With inputs from agencies)