India says Canada wants to question top diplomat in Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder probe

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Bloomberg News

Dan Strumpf

Published Oct 14, 2024  •  1 minute read

High Commissioner of India Sanjay Kumar Verma is pictured at a tree planting ceremony in Lamoureux Park in Cornwall, Ont., on Oct. 1, 2024. Photo by Todd Hambleton /Cornwall Standard-Freeholder/Postmedia Network

India said it was told by Canadian authorities that its top diplomat in Ottawa is a “person of interest” in an investigation involving the murder of a Sikh activist last year, further straining ties between the two governments.

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New Delhi received notice via a diplomatic communication that India’s High Commissioner to Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma, as well as other Indian diplomats, were persons of interest in the investigation, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Monday. The ministry rejected what it called “preposterous imputations” made by Canada and said the move was politically motivated.

The ministry hinted the government could take retaliatory action against Canadian diplomats in India. Canada’s High Commission in New Delhi didn’t immediately respond to requests for further information.

India’s government didn’t specify the investigation in which Verma was being sought for questioning, but the statement referred to allegations made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in September 2023. At the time, Trudeau accused the Indian government of masterminding the assassination of a Sikh separatist and Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in British Columbia.

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A poster of the former Gurdwara President Hardeep Singh Nijjar is displayed on a fence outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara temple in Surrey, B.C., on Sept. 19, 2023. Photo by DON MACKINNON /AFP via Getty Images

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has repeatedly denied any involvement in the murder of Nijjar, and the designation of Verma as a person of interest is likely to further inflame ties between New Delhi and Ottawa.

Relations between the two countries hit a low point after Trudeau’s allegations, with India expelling dozens of Canadian diplomats and restricting travel. On Monday, New Delhi hinted at more action against Canadian officials, saying “India now reserves the right to take further steps in response to these latest efforts of the Canadian government to concoct allegations against Indian diplomats,” according to the statement.

Canadian police to date have charged multiple Indian nationals in Nijjar’s murder. US prosecutors in a separate case have accused an Indian government agent of directing a thwarted plot to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist and US citizen, on American soil.

— With assistance from Sudhi Ranjan Sen.

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