Departing Top Indian Diplomat Denies Link to Crime in Canada, Says Accusations ‘Politically Motivated’

High Commissioner of India to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma speaks to reporters during an interview in Ottawa on Aug. 31, 2023. The Canadian Press/Patrick Doyle

India’s departing high commissioner said he had no involvement in the criminal activity the RCMP has alleged to be linked to Indian government agents and denied playing a role in the murder of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil.

High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma told CTV News in an interview aired on Oct. 20 that his country “never” targeted anyone for killing and that he condemns the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Nijjar, who had helped organize a non-binding referendum to create an independent state of Khalistan and secede from India, was murdered in June 2023 in Surrey, B.C.

Verma said he had “nothing at all” to do with the matter. The high commissioner said the accusation is “politically motivated” and questioned why Ottawa didn’t go through the regular judicial process for criminal matters. “If Mr. Trudeau or his colleagues know about it, is it not a crime not to file a charge sheet?” he said.

Canada announced it was expelling Verma and five other Indian diplomats on Oct. 14. India retaliated by expelling six Canadian diplomats.

“The decision to expel these individuals was made with great consideration and only after the RCMP gathered ample, clear and concrete evidence which identified six individuals as persons of interest in the Nijjar case,” said Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly in a statement to explain the expulsions.

The RCMP took the rare step on Oct. 14 of disclosing information on its criminal investigations, saying it had uncovered “links tying agents of the Government of India (GOI) to homicides and violent acts.” RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme said his press conference was not about the Nijjar investigation and there was no mention of Indian diplomats being persons of interest in the case.

The same day Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said India had made a “fundamental error in thinking that they could engage in supporting criminal activity against Canadians here on Canadian soil, whether it be murders or extortion or other violent acts.”

A little over a year ago, Trudeau said there were “credible allegations of a potential link” between Nijjar’s murder and Indian government agents, plunging the diplomatic relationship between Ottawa and New Delhi in turmoil.

Verma was asked by CTV News to comment on the allegations and statements made by Joly and other Canadian officials. “Let me see the concrete evidence she’s talking about. As far as I’m concerned, she’s talking politically... she has got nothing in her hand,” he said regarding Joly’s statement.

Verma also told the news outlet any evidence being shared would have to meet legal standards.

“Any evidence which is shared has to be legally acceptable,” said Verma, adding that Canada and India are both “rule of law” countries. “Unfortunately, not a shred of evidence has been shared with us,” he said.

Verma said if Canada had a case it should have been filed with the courts. In relation to a similar case in the U.S. where charges have been laid and links to the Indian government are indicated, Verma said “there are two different countries, two different ‘crimes’ taken place.”

“The place of crime are different, and therefore I would expect very much the Canadian government to come out clean, showing me the evidence of anything,” he said.

Global Affairs Canada said India was asked to waive the diplomatic immunity of some of its officials so they could be interviewed by the RCMP, but the request was denied.

RCMP

The RCMP said in an Oct. 14 press conference it needed to come forward at this time given the severity of the threat from criminal groups supported by Indian agents, and because India was not cooperating.

The accusation was levelled after top Canadian officials had met Indian officials in Singapore over the weekend.

RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme said his deputy Mark Flynn during the meeting had “plainly laid out the evidence that we had on some of the cases” and sought to get assistance from India. “That did not result in the outcomes that were expected, and this is why we’re here today,” said Duheme in the press conference meant to disrupt the alleged activities of Indian agents.

Opposition party leaders in the House of Commons were briefed on the matter last week by the prime minister’s National Security and Intelligence Advisor Nathalie Drouin, who was also in the Singapore meeting.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May told the House public safety committee on Oct. 18 about the briefing she received from Drouin. She said one of the reasons the RCMP came forward is because much of the information on its case against the alleged Nijjar assassins, arrested earlier this year, would be disclosed in court.

“They were also aware that six diplomats and their proxies were involved in an active, continuing ring that represented a threat to Canadians,” she added.

Trudeau also accused Indian diplomats on Oct. 14 of collecting information through “questionable illegal means,” which is then passed to criminal elements to target Canadians for murder or extortion.

Verma said in his role he had never directed or coerced anyone into collecting information on pro-Khalistan activists, who could later be targeted.

“I, as high commissioner of India, have never done anything of that kind,” he said, while adding that it’s in his “national interest” to know what the Sikh activists are doing in Canada. Canada has the largest Sikh population outside of India’s Punjab, and India has long accused Canada of turning a blind eye to Sikh extremism.

“If the Canadian politicians are so novice that they want me not to know what my enemies are doing here, I’m sorry, then they don’t know what the international relations is all about,” said Verma, who mentioned using only “overt” means to conduct the monitoring.

The top diplomat told CTV he doesn’t expect the trade relationship between India and Canada to be affected by the row.

“There will be emotions which may impact a few of those deals, but larger picture is that I don’t see much impact on non-political bilateral relations,” he said.