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A Sikh separatist leader was attacked on a California highway earlier this month in a shooting that his organization has described as an assassination attempt.
Satinder Pal Singh Raju, an organizer with Sikhs for Justice and an advocate for the establishment of an independent Sikh state, Khalistan, was traveling on the Interstate 505 near Sacramento on 11 August when the truck he was in was “sprayed with bullets”. He survived the shooting.
Raju is an associate of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian advocate for Khalistan who was assassinated in Vancouver in 2023, according to Sikhs for Justice. The Canadian government has said there were “credible allegations” that “agents of the Indian government” were behind Nijjar’s death.
California has long been home to a strong Sikh independence movement, and Raju has helped organize referendum efforts in the state to show support for Khalistan.
The California highway patrol confirmed to the Guardian that a shooting had occurred and that it unfolded after 11.30pm on 11 August in Yolo county. The agency is investigating the incident, and no arrests have been made, Rodney Fitzhugh, a CHP spokesperson, said in a statement.