Expelled Indian high commissioner denies involvement in murder of Sikh leader in Canada

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — India’s high commissioner to Canada has denied any involvement in the murder of a Canadian Sikh leader who was killed in British Columbia last year even though the Canadian government has named him as a person of interest in the assassination.

Sanjay Kumar Verma, who was expelled last Monday along with five other Indian diplomats, said in an interview on CTV’s Question Period Sunday that the allegations are politically motivated.

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

Four Indian nationals living in Canada were charged with Nijjar’s murder and are awaiting trial.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police went public this week with allegations that Indian diplomats were targeting Sikh separatists in Canada by sharing information about them with their government back home. They said top Indian officials were then passing that information to Indian organized crime groups who were targeting the activists, who are Canadian citizens, with drive-by shootings, extortions and even murder.

Verma 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.

Any action taken by Indian officials in Canada was “overt,” said Verma.

In the interview Verma condemned Nijjar’s death.

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

Verma also pushed back on comments made by Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly that compared India to Russia. She said Canada’s national police force has linked Indian diplomats to homicides, death threats and intimidation in Canada.

“Let me see the concrete evidence she’s talking about,” said Verma. “As far as I’m concerned, she’s talking politically."

India has rejected the Canadian accusations as absurd, and its foreign ministry said it was expelling Canada’s acting high commissioner and five other diplomats in response.

Verma said “not a shred of evidence has been shared with us” about the Canadian allegations.

The RCMP has said attempts earlier this month to share evidence with Indian officials were unsuccessful.

Verma said the RCMP had not applied for the proper visas to visit India.

“A visa needs to be affixed,” he said. “For any government delegation to travel to another country, you need an agenda to go by. There was no agenda at all."

Canada is not the only country that has accused Indian officials of plotting an assassination on foreign soil. The U.S. Justice Department announced criminal charges against an Indian government employee Thursday in connection with an alleged foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader living in New York City.

In the case announced by the Justice Department, Vikash Yadav, who authorities say directed the New York plot from India, faces murder-for-hire charges in a planned killing that prosecutors have previously said was meant to precede a string of other politically motivated murders in the United States and Canada.

“An indictment is not a conviction,” Verma said. “It will follow its judicial process.”

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

The Khalistan movement supports the establishment of an independent Sikh state in India.

The Nijjar killing in Canada has soured India-Canada ties for more than a year, but Verma doesn’t expect this will impact business relations between the two countries.

“I don’t see much impact on non-political bilateral relations,” he said.