Expelled Indian high commissioner denies involvement in criminal activity in Can

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-expelled-indian-high-commissioner-denies-involvement-in-criminal/
"Canadian officials have yet to present any evidence to support their
allegations that Indian agents are behind a vast network of violence and
intimidation in Canada, the outgoing high commissioner of India says.
In an interview airing on CTV News one week after the RCMP went public
with its investigation, Sanjay Kumar Verma denied any connection between
the Indian government and the slaying last year of a Sikh separatist
activist in British Columbia. “I entirely refute this connection,” he
said.
When asked if he was involved in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar,
Mr. Verma said, “Nothing at all, politically motivated, no evidence
presented.”
Mr. Verma is one of six Indian diplomats who have been ejected from
Canada after the RCMP deemed them “persons of interest” in an
investigation into what the force describes as a campaign of alleged
violence, extortion and intimidation directed at the Sikh diaspora by
agents of Narendra Modi’s Indian government.
He said repeatedly throughout the interview that Canada had offered no
evidence to back up any of its claims about Indian officials being
involved in criminal activities in Canada.
“Unfortunately, not a shred of evidence has been shared with us,” he
told Vassy Kapelos, host of CTV’s Question Period, in the interview.
Commissioner Mike Duheme said last Monday the RCMP had “clear and
compelling evidence” that Indian agents have engaged in, and continue to
engage in, “activities that pose a significant threat to public safety.”
Laying out the sequence of events that led to the highly unusual news
conference, the RCMP said in a statement that Mark Flynn, the deputy
commissioner of federal policing, “made attempts to meet with his Indian
law enforcement counterparts to discuss violent extremism occurring in
Canada and India, and present evidence pertaining to agents of the
Government of India’s involvement in serious criminal activity in
Canada.”
Those attempts were “unsuccessful,” the RCMP said, and so the evidence
was “presented directly to Government of India officials.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government of India and Indian
law enforcement have “repeatedly refused” to work with their Canadian
counterparts, despite the “clear and compelling evidence” the RCMP has
shared with Indian officials."