Sikh separatist leader survives suspected assassination attempt in California

The blue and yellow flags of Khalistan are flying in the air

A Sikh separatist leader was attacked on a California freeway earlier this month in a shooting that his organization described as an assassination attempt.

Satinder Pal Singh Raju, an organizer with Sikhs for Justice and an advocate for the creation of an independent Sikh state, Khalistan, was driving on the 505 Freeway near Sacramento on August 11 when the truck he was in was “riddled with bullets.” He survived the shooting.

Raju is an associate of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian Khalistani advocate who was murdered in Vancouver in 2023, according to Sikhs for Justice. The Canadian government has said there are “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 helped organize referendum efforts in the state to show support for Khalistan.

The California Highway Patrol confirmed to the Guardian that a shooting occurred after 11:30 p.m. on August 11 in Yolo County. The agency is investigating the incident and no arrests have been made, Rodney Fitzhugh, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol, said in a statement.

Raju told the Sacramento Bee that he was returning from an organizing meeting with colleagues when a car pulled up next to them in a rural part of the highway and started shooting, causing the truck driver to veer into a ditch. They fled the vehicle and hid behind a haystack where they called 911, the newspaper reported.

Sikhs for Justice shared a video on social media showing bullet holes in the driver’s side window and windshield of the Dodge Ram.

Related: Indian man suspected of plotting to kill Sikh separatist pleads not guilty in US court

After Nijjar’s murder, Raju and other members of Sikhs for Justice spent months in British Columbia organizing for their cause. Raju also participated in organizing efforts in San Francisco and Sacramento and said the incident will not deter him.

“The day we die is already written. I’m happy that I survived. But it won’t change the work we do,” Raju told the Los Angeles Times.

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, general counsel for Sikhs For Justice, said the shooting was part of “the ongoing transnational violence in India.”

“The Modi 3.0 regime continues its policy of transnational repression to violently suppress the global Khalistan referendum campaign to liberate Punjab from Indian occupation,” Pannun said in a statement.