The RCMP alleges that Indian diplomats and consular personnel based in Canada are engaged in covert operations related to serious criminal activity in the country, including murder and extortion.
The startling allegations went public last year when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada was investigating credible allegations that Indian government officials were involved in the murder of a prominent Sikh activist. This is the latest in an escalating conflict between India and Canada.
In an unexpected and unusual press conference on Monday, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duhem outlined the alleged activities of Indian diplomats in Canada.
“The investigation found that Indian diplomats and consular officials based in Canada used their official positions to engage in covert activities, including intelligence gathering for the Indian government, either directly or through their agents, and that other individuals, either voluntarily or under compulsion, used their official positions to It became clear that he had acted sensibly,” Duhame told reporters.
“There is also evidence that various entities within and outside Canada are being used by Indian government officials to gather intelligence. Some of these individuals and companies are coerced and threatened to work for the Indian government. “The Indian government is then used to target members of the South Asian community,” Duhem said.
Evidence collected by the RCMP was presented directly to Indian government officials over the weekend by RCMP Deputy Commissioner Mark Flynn, Canadian National Security and Intelligence Adviser Natalie Drouin, and Canadian Deputy Foreign Minister David Morrison.
Two Canadian officials with knowledge of the rapidly evolving situation said Canada has asked India to lift the diplomatic immunity of the Canadian officials involved so that they can be charged with crimes.
India said no, officials said. Canada then submitted a diplomatic note expelling the Indian officials.
In response, India announced it would withdraw Sanjay Kumar Verma, the High Commissioner to Canada, and other “targeted diplomats and officials.”
A senior Canadian official told CTV News that he was told that the Indian high commissioner was a person of interest in the June 2023 murder of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
CTV News is not naming the Canadian officials because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the incident.
“Yesterday, we received diplomatic communications from Canada suggesting that the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats are ‘persons of interest’ in matters related to the country’s investigations,” a statement released by India’s Ministry of External Affairs on Monday said. “I received it,” he said.
“The Government of India strongly rejects these absurd accusations and considers them to be driven by the Trudeau government’s political objectives centered on vote bank politics,” the statement said.
A photo of the late temple chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar hangs on a banner outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurudwara Sahib in Surrey, British Columbia, on September 18, 2023. The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyke
India’s government claims Canada has not shared “a shred of evidence” and accuses the Trudeau government of a “deliberate strategy to smear India for political gain.”
India also announced that it had summoned Canada’s Chargé d’Affaires Stewart Wheeler to protest the allegations.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Indian government has long accused Canada of allowing pro-Khalistan “terrorists” to operate in Canada. The Khalistan movement aims to establish a homeland for Sikhs in the Punjab region.
A senior Canadian official said NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, a prominent Canadian Sikh politician, had come up numerous times in conversations with India over the past few weeks, adding said the Trudeau government is pushing back against Canada’s claims as biased. Previous governance arrangements with Singh through Supply Confidence Agreements.
Prime Minister Trudeau is scheduled to hold a press conference later in the afternoon with Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and Public Safety Minister Dominique Leblanc.
Future updates.
With files from CTV News’ Vassie Kapelos and Colton Playle.
