India has formally protested the Canadian government’s allegation linking President Modi’s right-hand man to alleged plots against Sikh separatists.

Relations between the two countries have been strained for more than a year after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were credible allegations that the Indian government was linked to the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. India has vehemently denied the allegation.

Last month, the Washington Post reported that Canadian officials suspected Amit Shah, India’s powerful home minister and Narendra Modi’s right-hand man, had ordered the targeting of Sikh activists inside. Canada.

Canada’s Deputy Foreign Minister David Morrison confirmed to a parliamentary committee on Tuesday that he had told the newspaper that Mr. Shah was behind the plots.

India Canada has now said it “protests in the strongest terms against the absurd and baseless references made to the Union Home Minister of India,” external affairs spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said on Saturday.

Jaiswal also accused Canada of “flagrant” violations of diplomatic conventions after he said the Canadian government told consular staff they were “under audio and video surveillance.”

Killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar

Last September, Mr. Trudeau accused the Indian government of involvement in the assassination of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who died in June 2023.

He was shot dead in the parking lot of a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia, where he was president.

“Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” Trudeau told Canada’s House of Commons at the time.

India dismissed the allegation as “absurd” and told Canada to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats from the country.

Mr Nijjar, 45, has been a prominent supporter of a separatist movement seeking to establish an independent homeland for Sikhs in India, where they are a minority.

He was previously classified as a “terrorist” by the Indian government, according to local reports, and was part of the banned Khalistan movement.

Read more: What is Khalistan movement

In October, Canada expelled six Indian diplomatsincluding High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma, after police uncovered evidence of ongoing violent criminal activity linked to the Government of India.

At the same time, India ordered the expulsion of six Canadian diplomats in a tit-for-tat exchange.

Read more from Sky News:
Famous squirrel euthanized after complaints
Man executed despite the appeal of those who condemned him
The celebrities who support Donald Trump or Kamala Harris

Separately, US officials have alleged that Indian agents were involved in an assassination attempt against Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York last year.

Follow Sky News on WhatsApp

Keep up to date with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by watching Sky News

Tap here

The US Department of Justice has indicted an Indian national who was working at the behest of an unnamed Indian government official.

However, the Indian government told US officials in October that the unnamed official was no longer working for the government, and a US spokesman said Washington was satisfied with India’s cooperation.