Hardeep Nijjar killing: Surveillance of Indian diplomats in Canada led to allegations, says report

Canada’s belief that Indian agents were involved in the killing of Khalistani figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar may be based on intercepting communications between Indian officials in the country while receiving inputs from another Western nation.

The outlet CBC News reported on Thursday that the government had “amassed both human and signals intelligence in a months-long investigation”.

It cited Canadian government sources saying that there was intelligence available based on “communications involving Indian officials themselves, including Indian diplomats present in Canada”.

Some of the intelligence was shared by another nation in the ‘Five Eyes’ alliance. That group includes, other than Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia.

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It also said that Canada’s National Security and Intelligence Adviser Jody Thomas travelled to India for four days in August and five more days in September, with her second visit overlapping with that of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to New Delhi for the G20 leaders’ summit.

It also stated that in private meetings, Indian officials did not deny involvement in Nijjar’s killing.

Earlier in the day, Trudeau, while speaking to media in New York on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, had reiterated the claim made in the House of Commons on Monday that there was “credible evidence” pointing towards a “potential link” between agents of the Indian Government and Nijjar’s murder on June 18.

“I can assure you, the decision to share these allegations on the floor of the House of Commons was not done lightly. It was done with utmost seriousness,” he said.

He reiterated that he had raised the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi when they met for a pull aside on the margins of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi this month. “I had a direct and frank conversation, with the Prime Minister, in which I shared my concerns in no uncertain terms,” he said.

He again called upon India to “to take seriously this matter and to work with us to shed full transparency and ensure accountability and justice in this matter.” India has already publicly dismissed the allegations as “absurd”.