‘Trudeau made sure…’: Indian envoy who Canada named ‘person of interest’ in Nijjar probe

India’s high commissioner to Canada, Sanjay Verma, denied any involvement in the murder of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar and said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had wrecked bilateral political ties.

India recalled Verma and other diplomats after Canada labelled them as “persons of interest” in a probe linked to Nijjar’s death.

In an interview on CTV’s Question Period, the Indian ambassador said the allegations by Trudeau and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are politically motivated.

“Nothing at all,” Verma said when asked if he had any role in the shooting of Hardeep Singh Nijjar who was killed outside a cultural centre in Surrey, British Columbia on June 18, 2023. “No evidence was presented. Politically motivated.”

He said that Trudeau had been relying on intelligence rather than evidence.

“On the basis of intelligence, if you want to destroy a relationship, be my guest. And that’s what he did,” Verma said in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

“Evidence should have been shared first, but someone (Trudeau) decided to stand in Parliament and talk about a thing for which he himself has said there was no hard evidence. And the day on which he did that, since then, he has made sure that the bilateral relations with India only go downwards, spiralling down,” he added.

India-Canada diplomatic row

Trudeau and the RCMP went public last week with allegations that Indian diplomats were targeting Sikh separatists in Canada by sharing information about them with their government back home. They claimed top Indian officials were then passing that information to crime groups like the Lawrence Bishnoi gang who were targeting the activists, who are Canadian citizens, with drive-by shootings, extortions, and even murder.

India has called the allegations “preposterous” and “absurd”. In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said that the charges were being made by Trudeau in a bid to win support for the upcoming elections in Canada.

India has repeatedly criticized the Canadian government for being soft on supporters of the Khalistan movement, which is banned in India but has support among the Sikh diaspora, particularly in Canada.

Verma also denied the Indian government was targeting Sikh separatists in Canada. “I, as high commissioner of India, have never done anything of that kind,” he said.

In the interview, the Indian envoy also condemned Nijjar’s death.

“Any murder is wrong and bad,” he said. “I do condemn.”

Relations between India and Canada have been fraught since last year when Trudeau said he had evidence linking Indian agents to the assassination of Nijjar in his country. India has called the allegations baseless and says Canada hasn’t shared any evidence with them yet.