Accusations of widespread murder, extortion and coercion across Canada linked to Indian government agents sparked an escalation of already tense diplomatic tensions on Monday, as each country expelled six diplomats.

Canada has declared six Indian diplomats, including the high commissioner, persona non grata after the RCMP and other government officials told India its diplomats were persons of interest in several investigations. violent crime in Canada.

India quickly retaliated by ordering six Canadian diplomats to leave the country by Saturday.

The RCMP told the Canadian Press it was investigating three homicides in Canada over the past two years with possible ties to India, but would not say whether that includes the high-profile killing of the pro activist. -Khalistan Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said New Delhi tried to undermine Canadian institutions instead of helping solve these criminal cases.

“No country, least of all a democracy that upholds the rule of law, can accept this fundamental violation of its sovereignty,” he told reporters on Parliament Hill.

“We will never tolerate the involvement of a foreign government in threatening and killing Canadian citizens on Canadian soil.”

RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme told a news conference in Ottawa that the force decided to take the “extraordinary” step of warning the public after Indian government officials refused to cooperate with their threat investigation.

“It is not our normal process to publicly release information about ongoing investigations in an effort to preserve their integrity,” Duheme told reporters. “However, we believe it is necessary to do so at this time due to the significant threat to public safety in our country.”

Duheme said Canadian law enforcement, including the RCMP, has investigated and charged people with homicides, extortion and other criminal acts. He added that there have been more than a dozen credible and imminent threats that have led police to warn members of the South Asian community, including the pro-Khalistan movement.

India is a staunch opponent of the separatist Khalistan movement, in which some Sikhs advocate for an independent state called Khalistan to be carved out of Indian territory.

India believes that this prospect is unconstitutional and threatens the country’s national security. Ottawa has long emphasized that it defends India’s territorial integrity, but will not suppress free speech in Canada.

The RCMP commissioner said Monday that investigations revealed that Indian diplomats and consular officials based in Canada took advantage of their official positions to engage in clandestine activities, including gathering information for the Indian government, either directly or through agents.

“The evidence also shows that a wide variety of entities in Canada and abroad were used by agents of the Indian government to gather information,” Duheme said, including some individuals and companies allegedly coerced and threatened with providing information used to make threats. .

In February 2024, a unit was created to investigate the threats.

“The team learned a significant amount of information about the scale and depth of criminal activities orchestrated by agents of the Indian government and the resulting threats to the safety and security of Canadians and people living in Canada” , declared Mr. Duheme.

“Despite the measures taken by law enforcement, the damage continued, representing a serious threat to our public safety.”

RCMP Deputy Commissioner Brigitte Gauvin said the force has so far arrested and charged eight people in homicide cases, and another 22 people have been charged with extortion.

The alleged extortion crimes took place across Canada, but primarily in British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta.

Duheme said the force felt compelled to confront the Indian government and inform the public of its findings, but attempts to talk with Indian law enforcement failed, he added.

Canada has asked New Delhi to lift the diplomatic immunity of Indian officials in Canada, which would have allowed the RCMP to question them, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said Monday.

When India refused, Canada expelled the diplomats.

New Delhi has rejected the allegations and called the Canadian government’s claims absurd. India’s foreign ministry said it had been informed on Sunday that some of its diplomats were “persons of interest” in an ongoing investigation, including its high commissioner, a title given to an ambassador to Commonwealth countries.

The ministry said the Canadian government had not shared any “evidence” since Trudeau stood up in the House of Commons in September 2023 to announce that investigators had credible intelligence linking the Indian government to the death by Nijjar ball.

Since then, relations between the two countries have been tense.

“Violence actually increased following the allegations a year ago,” Joly said. She reached out to Canada’s peers in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.

Trudeau had a brief exchange with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the ASEAN summit in Laos last week. Trudeau said Monday he stressed to Modi the seriousness of the situation and that Canada needs New Delhi’s cooperation in criminal investigations.

Canada sent senior security officials to meet with their Indian counterparts in Singapore last weekend “to share RCMP evidence that concludes six Indian government agents are persons of interest in criminal activity,” Trudeau said .

“The Indian government made a fundamental mistake in thinking that it could support criminal activities against Canadians here on Canadian soil, whether it be murder, extortion or other acts of violence,” he said. he declared.

India announced on Monday that it was withdrawing six of its diplomats, including its high commissioner to Canada. But Canada said India’s statement came only after Ottawa declared High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and five other diplomats persona non grata.

“Canada has done what India has been asking for a long time,” Stewart Wheeler, Canada’s acting high commissioner to India, told local media there.

“Canada has provided credible and irrefutable evidence of links between agents of the Indian government and the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.”

He and his colleagues have until next Saturday to leave India.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called the RCMP allegations “extremely concerning” and leveled his own accusations against Trudeau and his government for not taking national security and foreign interference seriously.

“Because of this, Canada has become a playground for these activities,” Poilievre said in a statement Monday.

The federal NDP has called for sanctions against India and said in a statement Monday that Canada must “commit to imposing the most serious consequences against anyone found guilty of participating in an activity organized crime on Canadian soil.”

British Columbia Premier David Eby, who is currently on the campaign trail, said Monday he was “deeply disturbed” by the RCMP’s revelations, which he called “unprecedented.”

He said Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc assured him that “those involved were being held accountable.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published October 14, 2024.

— With files from Sidhartha Banerjee and Darryl Greer