The men were arrested on Friday morning in Edmonton in western Canada, write Edmonton Journal.
The police state that the men are Indian citizens who have lived in India for three to five years with temporary residence permits.
– We are investigating whether there are any links to the Government of India, Superintendent of Police Mandeep Mooker said at a press conference on Friday.
More arrests may be forthcoming, according to the police.
Murdered exile leader wanted to create Sikh state
The men are suspected of the murder of the Sikh exile leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot dead in a suburb of Vancouver last June. Nijjar then lived for many years in Canada, where he worked for an independent Sikh state in northwestern India.
After the assassination, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed there was credible information that Indian agents were behind the assassination. The Indian government denied the reports and forced over 40 Canadian diplomats to leave the country.
Also suspected of gang-related murders
According to information to the public service company CBC the arrested men belong to a criminal gang with links to jailed gangster leader Lawrence Bishnoi from the state of Punjab.
They are also said to be suspects in three other murders committed in Edmonton in the fall of 2023: One of a rival gang leader in September and a double murder in November of another designated gang criminal and his 11-year-old son.
The day before the murder of the gang leader, an Indian anti-terrorist agency singled him out as a member of the militant Sikh separatist group Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), writes the CBC.