Sikh activist facing India death threat arrested for firearm possession, but how did India find out first?

A noted Canadian Sikh activist was arrested for firearm possession offences this week, just after he was offered witness protection based on an Indian State threat to his life.

And in an additional twist, Indian media reported the news before any Canadian authorities released public details on it, posing questions as to how India’s notoriously nationalist media would get such information on someone viewed as an enemy of India.

Inderjit Singh Gosal was charged with a dozen firearms-related offences after being arrested by Ontario Provincial Police in Whitby on 19^th September. He appeared in court in Oshawa on Monday, but even before then Indian media were pushing out the story. The 36-year-old was arrested with fellow activists Arman Singh, 23, of Toronto, and Jagdeep Singh, 41, a resident of New York. News of the arrest was first broken by Indian nationalist news outlets like NDTV.

The early reporting by Indian nationalist social media accounts mirrors suspicious action around other criminal incidents in Canada, including the 2023 murder of a Sikh man in Winnipeg (Manitoba) and a previous attempt on Gosal’s life, which was actually reported as a successful Indian State hit by some. The Winnipeg murder of Sukhdool Gill has been cited as a likely example of a coordinated Indian State hit, according to Canadian authorities.

Only a week before Gosal’s arrest the respected activist was offered witness protection services based on a threat to his life, related to his role as the Canadian coordinator of the Khalistan (free Sikh homeland), a role previously held by Shaheed (martyr) Bhai Hardeep Singh Nijjar, killed by criminals funded by the Indian State in 2023 in Surrey (BC). The arrest also comes shortly after Canada’s National Security Advisor Nathalie G Drouin met with her Indian counterpart Ajit Doval, a notorious figure exposed by Washington Post via intelligence leaks as leading “harassment” of Sikh diaspora activists.

Gosal was targeted in a shooting last year in February, and then later that year received his first “duty to warn” notice by police regarding a pending threat to his life. The threat is connected to the presence of the Lawrence Bishnoi criminal network in Canada, which is viewed as a proxy for the Indian State funding criminals to carry out transnational repression targeting critics of India. As recently as May, the Bishnoi gang took responsibility for the murder of a Sikh businessman local to Gosal, and are also linked with several other shootings across North America targeting Sikhs.

Gosal was also involved in an incident which sparked a day of anti-Sikh unrest across Canada, when he was targeted by a Hindu extremist mob whilst protesting outside a Brampton Mandir last November, resulting in his arrest for his role in a skirmish. Indian media currently link Gosal’s arrest to the meeting between Drouin and Doval, raising suspicion in Sikh circles about what has led to the arrest of Gosal.

A statement by Sikhs For Justice on the arrest highlighted India Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s threat about eliminating enemies of India “in their foreign homes”, whilst also raising the incident as a test for Canada PM Mark Carney, regarding the rights of Sikhs advocating for Khalistan in Canada.

Speaking on the arrest, Sikh Press Association Senior Press Officer Jasveer Singh said:

“There must be serious questions as to how news of this arrest reached Indian media and random Indian nationalist accounts first. The process of the arrest means it makes no sense for intricate detail of the arrest to reach Indian media first. Canadian authorities need to be clear about how this could happen, or else it leaves many questions about Inderjit Singh Gosal’s situation.

“Furthermore, global Sikh attention will be on this case, given the shocking amount of murders of Sikhs in Canada within the last two-years linked to the Indian State, via criminal networks like the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. There is a growing belief that Sikhs are being forced to be sitting-ducks for Indian violence whilst Canadian authorities do nothing and also allow nothing for those targeted to protect themselves.”

In 2018 a series of raids on UK Sikh activists was cited as the result of “diplomatic pressure” from India. A Sikh Press Association request to Ontario Provincial Police for further information on how news of the arrest could be broken by Indian outlets first has thus far been ignored.