Toronto: The trial of the four Indian nationals accused in the killing of pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar, has been moved from the Surrey provincial court to the British Columbia Supreme Court as the prosecution has sought their direct indictment.
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On Monday, the prosecution, called the Crown in Canada, moved for the stay of proceedings in the provincial court and is “now proceeding by way of a direct indictment”, a spokesperson for the BC Prosecution Service, Ministry of Attorney General, told the Hindustan Times.
In emailed responses to queries from HT, Communications Counsel Damienne Darby said, “A direct indictment means the accused will not have a preliminary inquiry but will instead proceed directly to trial (after what is anticipated to be a fairly lengthy period of pretrial applications given the complexity of the case). November 18 was the first appearance on the Supreme Court matter. The accused appeared by video, except Amandeep Singh, who appeared by counsel designation.”
Their next appearance will be on February 11, 2025, for a case management conference and scheduling of the pretrial applications and the trial dates will occur sometime in the new year. “There will be a number of pretrial applications before the trial commences, but we are unable to provide an estimate at this time for the length of the pretrial phase,” Darby added.
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On application by the Crown, which wasn’t opposed by counsel for the accused, the court imposed an interim publication ban regarding pretrial conferences and case management conferences and a restriction against members of the public attending court remotely.
The four accused, Karan Brar, Kamalpreet Singh, Karanpreet Singh and Amandeep Singh, are in holding facilities.
Amandeep Singh made his first court appearance on May 15, while the others appeared before a judge on May 7. May 21 was the first time all four appeared together in a court. All four are facing charges related to first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
The hearings for the accused at the provincial court, the latest on October 2, were adjourned five times, as the prosecution sought additional time for disclosure, or providing of the case material to the lawyers for the accused.
The killing of Nijjar on June 18, 2023 in Surrey, caused India-Canada relations to crater after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement in the House of Commons three months later that there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and the murder. India reacted by saying those charges were “absurd” and “motivated”.