India and Canada expel top diplomats over murder charges

India said it is withdrawing High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and other officials from Canada after disclosing they had been named as "persons of interest" in an investigation into the murder of a Sikh activist in British Columbia.

A Canadian government official, speaking on condition they not be identified, said Verma and five other Indian diplomats were, in fact, expelled from the country. India retaliated by expelling six Canadian diplomats, including the acting high commissioner "- the equivalent of an ambassador "- in New Delhi.

Canada's national police service said Indian officials leveraged their positions to conduct clandestine activities "- secretly gathering information that was then used to intimidate, harass or extort members of Canada's south Asian community. Mike Duheme, commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, described it during a news conference as a "serious threat to our public safety."

There have been "well over a dozen credible and imminent threats to life" against members of the Canadian south Asian community, the RCMP said in a statement. The threats specifically targeted people involved in promoting an independent Sikh state to be carved out of India.

The departure of the diplomats marks a further deterioration of ties between the two countries, following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegation last year that India was behind the alleged assassination of a Sikh separatist and Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

That allegation provoked a fierce backlash by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, with India expelling dozens of Canadian diplomats and restricting travel.

India accused Trudeau's government of baselessly targeting its officials and endangering their safety.

"We have no faith in the current Canadian Government's commitment to ensure their security," India's Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

The Indian government's announcement Monday came just hours after disclosing that it had received a diplomatic communication from Canada that Verma and other diplomats were "persons of interest" in an investigation.

India's government didn't specify the investigation, but the statement referred to allegations made by Trudeau in September 2023, when the Canadian leader first publicly accused India of involvement in the Nijjar murder.

Modi's government has repeatedly denied any involvement in the murder of Nijjar, who was designated as a terrorist under Indian law last year.

Canadian police have charged multiple Indian nationals in the killing. US prosecutors in a separate case have accused an Indian government agent of directing a thwarted plot to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist and US citizen, on American soil. After those allegations, which included references to the Nijjar case, the Indian government formed a committee of inquiry to look into the issue.

On Monday, the State Department said the Indian investigating team would visit Washington this week to discuss the Department of Justice case against Nikhil Gupta, an Indian citizen who is accused of trying to hire a hitman to kill Pannun on orders from an unnamed Indian government employee. Gupta has pleaded not guilty.

India has "has informed the United States they are continuing their efforts to investigate other linkages of the former government employee and will determine follow up steps, as necessary," the State Department said.