Canadian investigators probing the June-2023 killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar have said the organised crime investigation that led to sweeping indictments against the Lawrence Bishnoi gang had not uncovered any evidence linking the Indian government to the assassination.The clarification came after the United States unsealed federal indictments under “Operation Hard Ball”, alleging that jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and his close aide Satinderjeet Singh, alias Goldy Brar, ordered Nijjar’s killing outside a Sikh gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia.Responding to questions after the indictments were announced, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Deputy Commissioner Lisa Moreland said investigators had found no evidence through the organised crime probe to suggest that Indian officials were involved in the killing.”There is no evidence to suggest through this organised crime investigation and the charges and indictment laid forward that Indian officials were charged or were involved in this investigation,” Moreland said in an interview with a Canadian news channel.Asked specifically whether the investigation had uncovered any evidence supporting former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegation that Indian government agents were linked to Nijjar’s assassination, Moreland replied in the negative.She said the investigation remained ongoing and that additional intelligence and evidence gathered during the execution of search warrants would continue to be examined. However, she added that “nothing has come out today to link the Indian government.”Nijjar’s killing had triggered an unprecedented diplomatic rift between India and Canada after Trudeau told Parliament in September 2023 that there were “credible allegations” linking Indian agents to the assassination. New Delhi had rejected the allegation as “absurd and motivated”, leading to reciprocal expulsions of diplomats, disruption of visa services and a prolonged downturn in bilateral ties.Notably, neither the US Department of Justice’s indictment nor officials involved in Operation Hard Ball alleged any role of the Indian government in the killing. Instead, the indictment accuses Bishnoi and Brar of ordering the assassination as part of the activities of an India-based transnational organised crime syndicate.