New Delhi: One of the suspects implicated in the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar has disclosed in a social media video that he entered Canada on a ‘study permit’ acquired within days, as reported by Canada-based global news outlets.

According to the reports, the accused, identified as Karan Brar, shared in a video posted online in 2019 that he obtained a student visa through EthicWorks Immigration Services based in Bathinda, Punjab, India. He claimed to have received his study permit within days of application, as per translations of his Punjabi-language statement.

EthicWorks Immigration Services further boasted of Brar’s successful visa acquisition on their Facebook page, with a caption congratulating him on securing a Canada study visa, alongside a picture of Brar, purportedly from Kotkapura, a city in Punjab.

“Congratulations Karan Brar for the Canada study visa,” read the caption below the video. “One more happy client from Kotkapura,” reported Global News.

Despite queries regarding the suspects’ immigration process, Immigration Minister Marc Miller has declined to comment. Online records suggest that Brar arrived in Canada on a student permit approximately three years before the incident.

Per another Facebook page ostensibly owned by Brar, he relocated to Edmonton on May 4, 2020, after commencing studies at Bow Valley College in Calgary on April 30, 2020, as per Global News.

Brar, along with Karanpreet Singh, 28, and Kamalpreet Singh, 22, were apprehended in Edmonton on Friday and have been accused of murder and conspiracy. They appeared in court in Surrey, British Columbia on Tuesday.

The Sikh community in British Columbia turned up in large numbers at a Surrey courtroom on Tuesday as the accused made their first court appearance via video link, according to the Globe and Mail.

Amid the court proceedings, pro-Khalistani protesters rallied outside the Surrey provincial court, denouncing the Indian government for Nijjar’s killing. The incident has further strained relations between Canada and India, particularly after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Indian government agents.

Hardeep Singh Nijjar, designated as a terrorist by India’s National Investigation Agency in 2020, was fatally shot outside a Gurdwara in Surrey in June last year. The chilling video of his assassination, which emerged in March this year, depicted armed men executing what has been termed a “contract killing.”

Canadian authorities released photographs of all three arrested suspects last week, alongside images of the car believed to have been used in connection with the homicide in the Surrey area.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) of Surrey, RCMP, disclosed that the arrests were made in collaboration with law enforcement agencies from British Columbia and Alberta, as well as the Edmonton Police Service, following a thorough investigation into Nijjar’s killing.