NEW DELHI: India said on Friday it has no information regarding reports that Canadian authorities are close to arresting two men believed to be responsible for killing Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, an incident that has taken relations between the two countries to an all-time low.
Canada’s The Globe and Mail newspaper cited anonymous sources to report that the two suspected killers of Nijjar had not left Canada following the assassination in the town of Surrey in June and have been under police surveillance for months. The suspects are expected to be apprehended “in a matter of weeks”, the report said.
“We certainly do not have any information on that,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told a regular news briefing when he was asked about the media report.
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Ties between India and Canada cratered after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged in Parliament in September that there was a potential link between Indian government agents and the killing of Nijjar outside a gurdwara on June 18. The Indian side, which had already designated Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020, dismissed Trudeau’s accusation as “absurd”.
The Globe and Mail report further said Canadian police would unveil details about the alleged involvement of the killers and their connection to the Indian government when formal charges are filed.
India has insisted that it has not formally received any evidence from the Canadian side to back up the allegations about the killing of Nijjar, and that the “core issue” continues to be the space given to separatists, terrorists and anti-India elements to operate in Canada.
Bagchi added, “What I can tell you is that we have made our position very clear on where we stand on the issue and I do not have anything further on that.”
Responding a question on reports of shots being fired at the home of the president of the Swami Narayan temple in Canada, Bagchi declined to comment on the details. “Our understanding of that incident in British Columbia is that it was at a private residence related to somebody who is a member of the temple managing committee,” he said.
“I understand that investigations are underway in that case. I don’t think it’s appropriate to comment at this stage on the motivations or details behind it until such time the investigation is completed.”
