NEW DELHI: India’s High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma has asked Ottawa to produce evidence regarding New Delhi’s involvement in the murder of Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia and claimed that the “investigation has already been tainted”.
“A direction has come from someone at a high level to say India or Indian agents are behind it,” Canadian paper The Globe and Mail quoted him as saying in an interview.
Verma also suggested that Canada had illegally tapped the privileged communication between two diplomats in response to teasers from Ottawa about possessing evidence such as conversations between Indian diplomats as proof of an Indian Government link in Nijjar’s murder.
“There is no specific or relevant information provided in this case for us to assist them in the investigation,” Verma said. “Where is the evidence? Where is the conclusion of the investigation? I would go a step further and say now the investigation has already been tainted. A direction has come from someone at a high level to say India or Indian agents are behind it,” he told The Globe and Mail.
“You are talking about illegal wiretaps and talking about evidence. Conversations between two diplomats are secure by all international law. Show me how you captured these conversations. Show me that someone did not mimic the voice,” he observed.
Shortly after returning from the G20 summit in Delhi where his plane was grounded for two days due to a mechanical fault, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau had alleged that investigations into Nijjar’s murder had thrown up a potential Indian Government link.
Nijjar was wanted in several terrorism-related cases in India when he fled to Canada on a false passport. It is a mystery how a visa was given and when exactly Nijjar became a Canadian citizen. In 2020, India designated him as a terrorist.
Days after Trudeau’s allegations, India temporarily suspended the issuance of visas to Canadian citizens and asked Ottawa to downsize its diplomatic presence in the country to ensure parity. Verma strongly denied Canada’s allegations and said that India made 26 requests to Ottawa over the past five or six years to extradite people, but Canada did not take any action.