India’s High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Verma denied any involvement in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar and said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had destroyed bilateral political ties. India recalled Verma and other diplomats after Canada designated them “persons of interest” in an investigation into Nijjar’s death.

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

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

He said Trudeau relied on intelligence rather than evidence.

“If you want to destroy a relationship, be my guest based on your intelligence information. And that’s what he did,” Verma said in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

“Evidence should have been presented first, but someone (Trudeau) decided to stand in Parliament and speak about a matter for which he himself said there was no solid evidence. And the day he did that, he has done that ever since.” “I am sure that the bilateral relationship with India is only going down and going into a downward spiral,” he added.

Diplomatic dispute between India and Canada

Trudeau and the RCMP went public last week with allegations that Indian diplomats had targeted Sikh separatists in Canada by passing information about them to their government back home. They alleged that senior Indian officials then passed this information on to criminal groups like the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, who targeted the activists, who are Canadian citizens, with shootings, extortion and even murder.

India called the allegations “absurd” and “absurd.” In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said Trudeau’s allegations were made to drum up support for Canada’s upcoming election.

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

Verma also denied that the Indian government had targeted Sikh separatists in Canada. “As High Commissioner of India, I have never done anything like this,” he said.

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

“All murder is wrong and bad,” he said. “I condemn it.”

Relations between India and Canada have been strained since last year, when Trudeau said he had evidence linking Indian agents to the killing of Nijjar in his country. India called the allegations baseless and said Canada had not provided any evidence to them so far.