By Barry Ellsworth
TRENTON, Canada (AA) – The Canadian government has found no evidence to suggest India’s prime minister had knowledge of crimes committed by Indian agents in Canada, according to a senior government official.
Nathalie Drouin, senior security advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, also said there is no evidence of a link to crimes on the part of India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar or national security adviser Ajit Doval.
Drouin said in a statement Friday that any reports connecting the three to illegal activities in Canada are “speculative and inaccurate.”
“On October 14th, because of a significant and ongoing threat to public safety, the RCMP and officials took the extraordinary step of making public accusations of serious criminal activity in Canada perpetrated by agents of the Government of India,” Drouin said in the statement.
“The Government of Canada has not stated, nor is it aware of evidence, linking Prime Minister Modi, Minister Jaishankar, or NSA Doval to the serious criminal activity within Canada. Any suggestion to the contrary is both speculative and inaccurate.”
Her statement comes after a Nov. 19 story in Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper that suggested all three – Modi, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Ajit Doval – had knowledge of crimes and intimidation of Sikh separatists committed by Indian agents on Canadian soil. The source for the story was an unnamed senior national security official.
On Friday, Indian media quoted Indian External Affairs minister spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal as calling the Globe article “ludicrous.”
“We do not normally comment on media reports. However, such ludicrous statements made to a newspaper purportedly by a Canadian government source should be dismissed with the contempt they deserve,” Jaiswal said according to a story in the Indian Express newspaper.
However, Trudeau and the national police force have previously said there is credible evidence that Indian agents did commit crimes in Canada, including the murder of Canadian-Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023.
India denies any wrongdoing.