Canadian police officials alleged on Monday that agents of the Indian government were working with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang to plan violence in the North American country.
Bishnoi, a gangster from Punjab, is currently lodged at Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Central Jail. The Mumbai Police suspect his involvement in the killing of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique on October 12. Bishnoi has also been accused of masterminding the killing of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala on May 29, 2022.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police made the accusations against the Indian government agents at a press conference in Ottawa. “What we have seen is the use of organised crime elements, and it’s been publicly attributed to one organised crime gang in particular… the Bishnoi group is connected to the agents of India,” Assistant Commissioner Brigitte Gaubin said.
To a question on whether the main target of the alleged campaign was the Sikh Canadian community, the official said: “So yes, it is targeting the South Asian community, but what we’ve seen is that they are specifically targeting pro-Khalistan elements in Canada.”
The Canadian Police also released a statement alleging that Indian diplomats and consular officials “leveraged their official positions to engage in clandestine activities, such as collecting information for the government of India, either directly or through their proxies; and other individuals who acted voluntarily or through coercion”.
Shortly before the press conference, The Washington Post cited unidentified Canadian officials to report that Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing near Vancouver in June last year was “part of a broader campaign of violence against Indian dissidents” orchestrated by a senior Indian official and an operative from the country’s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing.
The report quoted Canadian officials as claiming that there was an operational chain in which Indian diplomats based there would gather information about alleged Sikh separatists. The Research and Analysis Wing would use this information to identify targets for attacks, which were carried out by Bishnoi’s crime syndicate, the newspaper alleged.
Hours after the police press conference, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the Government of India’s alleged support of violence against Canadians was “absolutely unacceptable”, reported CBC.
“I think it is obvious that the government of India made a fundamental error in thinking that they could engage in supporting criminal activity against Canadians, here on Canadian soil,” Trudeau said during a Thanksgiving Monday news conference. “Whether it be murders or extortion or other violent acts, it is absolutely unacceptable.”
The developments in Canada took place shortly after the Indian government said it was withdrawing High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and some other diplomats from the North American country. It also announced that it had expelled six Canadian diplomats.
Earlier on Monday, New Delhi rejected a Canadian diplomatic cable naming Verma and other Indian envoys as “persons of interest” in an investigation in the country.
Diplomatic ties between India and Canada have been strained for more than a year.
In September 2023, Trudeau told his country’s parliament that intelligence agencies were actively pursuing “credible allegations” tying agents of the Indian government to Nijjar’s killing.
Nijjar was a supporter of Khalistan, an independent nation for Sikhs that some members of the community seek to carve out of India. He was the head of the Khalistan Tiger Force, which is designated a terrorist outfit in India.
New Delhi had rejected Canada’s allegations as “absurd and motivated” and said they were an attempt by Ottawa to divert attention from the fact that it was providing shelter to those threatening India’s sovereignty. India had also ordered Canada to withdraw more than 40 diplomatic staff from the country.