India trashes allegations of links to violence in Canada

New Delhi: India on Monday categorically rejected allegations of its links to transnational violence or organised crime in Canada after a fresh media report in that country sought to connect Indian officials to the killing of Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Canadian national-security officials were presented with evidence that Indian consular staff operating in Vancouver supplied information to assist in the assassination of Nijjar, The Globe and Mail reported quoting two unnamed sources.

India has been trashing Canada’s allegations of an Indian link to the killing of the Sikh extremist in 2023.

The Canadian newspaper also named the Indian official while quoting the sources.

The report came on a day the prime ministers of Canada and India held wide-ranging talks that focused on significantly expanding the bilateral cooperation in areas of trade, energy, critical minerals, defence and security.

Interestingly, a Canadian readout on the talks between the two prime ministers noted that PM Mark Carney underscored that Canada will continue to take measures to combat transnational repression.

“India categorically rejects allegations of involvement in transnational violence or organised crime. These claims are baseless, politically motivated and unsupported by credible evidence despite repeated requests,” Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs P Kumaran said at a media briefing.

He was responding to questions on the Canadian media report on the Nijjar killing as well as on Carney’s remarks.

“India believes that concerns of this nature must addressed through credible law enforcement and judicial processes and not through public or politicised narratives,” Kumaran said.

He said the criminal investigation into the Nijjar case is proceeding as per established legal procedures. “On completion of this stage, it will move to full jury trial stage, etc. Canadians have an established legal procedure and it will proceed as per that procedure. India consistently maintained its commitment to the judicial process,” he said.