Amid the soaring tension with India, Canada accused New Delhi of direct involvement in "serious criminal activity" on its soil.
According to Canada, "agents of the Government of India" use criminals, referring specifically to the Bishnoi gang, to "target (the) South Asian community.
Addressing a press conference, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) claimed its investigation into the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Khalistani separatist leader who was shot dead in Canada last year, and other related cases has revealed links tying agents of the Indian government to "homicides and violent acts" in Canada.
"It (India) is targeting the South Asian community, but they are specifically targeting pro-Khalistani elements in Canada. What we have seen is, from an RCMP perspective, they use organised crime elements. It has been publicly attributed and claimed by one organised crime group in particular - (Lawrence) Bishnoi Group. We believe that the group is connected to agents of the Government of India,” said RCMP Assistant Commissioner Brigitte Gauvin.
The allegations come at a time when Lawrence Bishnoi is in news for his alleged involvement in the murder of NCP leader Baba Siddique in Mumbai.
The Canada police also claimed some Indian diplomatic staff work with organised crime elements to "collect - through questionable and illegal means - information on Canadian citizens... (that is fed to criminal organisations) that would then take violent actions from extortion to murder".
Tensions between India and Canada escalated on Monday after the Ministry of External Affairs strongly rejected the "diplomatic communication" it received from Canada last week. The communication was linked to the probe into the killing of Nijjar on Canadian soil.
According to the MEA, Canada's "diplomatic communication" suggested "that the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats are ‘persons of interest’ in a matter related to an investigation in that country." It added, "The Government of India strongly rejects these preposterous imputations and ascribes them to the political agenda of the Trudeau Government that is centered around vote bank politics."
India also expelled six Canadian diplomats from New Delhi, including the acting High Commissioner. All of them have been asked to leave India by the end of this week.
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