India’s High Commissioner to Canada has denied any involvement in the murder of Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot dead in British Columbia last year.
“Nothing,” Sanjay Kumar Verma said in an exclusive interview on Sunday’s CTV Question Period when asked directly about his alleged involvement in the killing.
“No evidence has been presented. It is politically motivated,” he said.
When asked by host Vashi Kapelos if the Indian government has ever been involved in targeting specific individuals for their death with the ultimate goal, Verma replied, “Never.” Ta.
Verma’s comments come as the RCMP and federal government accuse Indian diplomats and consular officials based in Canada of engaging in covert activities linked to serious criminal activity in the country, including murder and extortion. It was released a few days later.
It also comes just over a year after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took office in the House of Commons and said there was a “credible suspicion” that agents of the Indian government were involved in Nijjar’s murder. Since then, relations between the two countries have remained tense.
Following Monday’s allegations, Canada expelled six diplomats, including Verma. India retaliated by expelling six Canadian diplomats.
“The decision to expel these individuals was made out of an abundance of caution and there is sufficient and clear evidence that the RCMP has identified the six persons as persons of interest in the Niger case,” Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said in a statement Monday. The decision was made only after gathering concrete evidence.” .
Verma, who was given Jolie’s verbatim explanation by Kapelos, accused her of “talking politics.”
“Show me concrete evidence of what she’s talking about,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, she’s talking politics. She’s not having any of it, which I’m concerned about.”
Mr. Verma also clarified in response to a direct question from Mr. Kapelos that he condemned Mr. Nijjar’s murder.
“Any kind of murder is wrong and wrong. I condemn it and that is what I have said in many interviews. Let’s get to the bottom of the matter,” Verma said.
“There is no shred of evidence” was shared
Indian authorities have refused to cooperate with the investigation since Prime Minister Trudeau spoke in the House of Commons last September.
Asked why India is still refusing to cooperate despite these new accusations, Verma claimed that “not a shred of evidence has been shared with us.”
“Unfortunately, we have not received any information from Canadian officials that would lead us to a better position,” he said.
RCMP said Deputy Commissioner Mark Flynn tried unsuccessfully to meet with his Indian counterpart earlier this month to present evidence.
Flynn, along with National Security and Intelligence Adviser Nathalie Drouhin and Deputy Foreign Minister David Morrison, then met with Indian government officials over the weekend ahead of Monday’s allegations, sharing evidence and seeking cooperation. However, India refused. The plan is to waive diplomatic immunity for Verma and five other colleagues, allowing them to be interrogated.
Asked by Kapelos why Indian authorities did not want to see the evidence, Verma replied: “There was no proper visa.”
“Any delegation needs to be issued with a visa,” he said. “When a government delegation visits another country, it always has to have an agenda to adhere to. There was no agenda at all.”
“So it was mainly technical,” he added.
Kapelos was repeatedly asked whether the explanation would give Canadians the impression that the (Indian) government was hiding something, but Verma insisted, “Absolutely not.” did.
“In fact, we’ve been asking for (evidence) for the past year and the RCMP has said so,” Verma said. “Then how can we know if you won’t tell us the reason for your visit?”
In an interview that also aired on CTV’s Question Period on Sunday, Canada’s latest high commissioner to India, Cameron McKay, said that since August 2023, Canadian officials have been working to share information with India. He said he could say “conclusively” that he had “meeted at multiple levels” during the meeting.
“There is no question that the Canadian and Indian governments at all levels have shared more than enough information and evidence with the Indian side,” McKay said.
Meanwhile, India is cooperating with the US investigation into the failed assassination attempt to kill Gurpatwant Singh Panun, a Sikh activist and dual US-Canadian citizen, in New York City last year. . On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced criminal charges against Indian government officials after an Indian government committee investigating the incident visited Washington this week. An unsealed indictment links that assassination attempt to the Niger case.
Asked by Kapelos about related cases, Verma repeatedly denied any connection, adding: “An indictment is not a conviction.”
“So logically it would follow the judicial process,” he said.
McKay said he believes India treats Canada and the United States differently for domestic political reasons.
“India has elaborated a kind of false distinction between what happened in the US and what happened in Canada, which has been very successful for India in terms of domestic media coverage, but internationally. I don’t think so,’” McKay told Kapelos.
Suspicion of forced information collection
The RCMP also accused Indian diplomats on Monday of using their positions to compel individuals and companies to collect information for the Indian government on pro-Khalistan activists.
Mr. Verma also denied those allegations.
“As Indian High Commissioner, I have never done anything like that. That is one of them,” Verma said. “Secondly, colleagues, do you want to know what the pro-Khalistani elements in Canada are doing? Yes, I am. That is my national interest.”
But when asked by Kapelos whether the means used to collect that information were legal or illegal, Verma said the collection of that information was “completely overt.”
“There’s nothing secret. It’s all clear,” Verma said. “So, since we understand Punjabi, we read the newspapers and read their statements. So we read their social media posts and tried to make inferences from there.”
The Khalistan movement supports the establishment of an independent Sikh state in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government have long condemned the move and criticized Canada for not opposing Sikh separatism within its borders.
With files from CTV News’ Brennan McDonald and Spencer Van Dyke
The High Commissioner’s full interview can be viewed on CTV’s Question Period starting at 11 a.m. ET.
