How Indian government agents in Canada targeted Modi’s opponents

Agents working out of India’s high commission in Ottawa and consulates in Vancouver and Toronto were behind dozens of violent crimes across Canada that targeted opponents of the Modi government, Global News has learned.

Although on paper they held diplomatic and consular positions, the Indian agents played key roles in a wave of shootings, killings, threats, arsons and extortions in Canada, according to senior sources familiar with the matter.

The victims were mostly supporters of the Khalistan movement, which seeks independence for India’s Sikh-majority Punjab region. But others were simply rivals of the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the sources said.

The Canadian government announced Monday it was expelling six Indian diplomats and consular officials “in relation to a targeted campaign against Canadian citizens by agents linked to the government of India.”

The government acted “to disrupt the chain of operations that go from Indian diplomats here in Canada to criminal organizations, to direct violent impacts on Canadians right across this country,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

While Trudeau provided few details, sources told Global News the Indian diplomats used coercion, and sometimes cash payments, to convince community members to collect information in Canada.

A typical scenario involved the embassy or consulates withholding visas to South Asian community members in Canada who needed to travel to India.

Victims were then told they could have a visa, but they would have to earn it by conducting various tasks. In other cases, payments were used to recruit the informants.

The tasks assigned to them included attending Sikh temples, and conducting surveillance to determine when individuals left their homes for work each morning.

The photos and intelligence they amassed were fed back to their handlers at the Indian missions in Canada, and to intelligence officials in India.

Organized crime groups, notably India’s Lawrence Bishnoi gang, were then contracted to carry out the violence.

The incidents police have tied to the Indian government scheme include everything from the 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C., to a recent shooting on Vancouver Island that saw 14 bullets fired at the home of a Punjabi singer.

Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma allegedly oversaw the operation. Another Ottawa-based diplomat, as well as two consular officials in Toronto and another two in Vancouver, were allegedly involved.

Over the weekend, the RCMP notified India the six diplomats were persons of interest in its investigations, and asked New Delhi to waive their diplomatic immunity so they could be questioned.

India responded by releasing a statement Monday accusing Trudeau of playing politics. It also expelled six Canadian diplomats, including the acting high commissioner, Stewart Ross Wheeler.

At a news conference in Ottawa, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme told reporters investigators had linked Indian government agents to “serious criminal activity in Canada” that posed a “significant threat to public safety.”

“Investigations have revealed that Indian diplomats and consular officials based in Canada leveraged their official positions to engage in clandestine activities, such as collecting information for the government of India, either directly or through their proxies; and other individuals who acted voluntarily or through coercion,” Duheme said.

“Evidence also shows that a wide variety of entities in Canada and abroad have been used by agents of the government of India to collect information. Some of these individuals and businesses were coerced and threatened into working for the government of India,” he said.

“The information collected for the Government of India is then used to target members of the South Asian community.”

It is not unusual for a country to assign intelligence agents to an embassy or consulate under diplomatic cover. But it would be extraordinary for them to take part in crimes in their host country.

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It is also illegal, but before the alleged agents could be charged, Ottawa would have to ensure they were not protected by the immunity granted to foreign diplomats and consular officers.

In this case, Canada appears to have decided not to prosecute and instead treat it as a diplomatic incident, notifying the government of India early Monday it was expelling the six diplomatic and consular officials.

“We are not seeking diplomatic confrontation with India,” Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said at a news conference. “But we will not sit quietly as agents of any country are linked to efforts to threaten, harass or even to kill Canadians.”

The allegations point to an Indian government strategy to target prominent members of the international Khalistan movement, but also those who were only marginally supportive, as well as others with whom the Modi government had a beef.

India has repeatedly denied the allegations and on Monday called the suggestion that its high commissioner and other diplomats were involved “preposterous.”

But the RCMP commissioner said a multidisciplinary team was created in February 2024 to coordinate the many investigations into crimes stemming from the Indian plot.

“The team has learned a significant amount of information about the breadth and depth of criminal activity orchestrated by agents of the government of India, and consequential threats to the safety and security of Canadians and individuals living in Canada,” he said.

“Despite law enforcement action, the harm has continued, posing a serious threat to our public safety. We reached a point where we felt it was imperative to confront the government of India and inform the public about some very serious findings that have been uncovered through our investigations.”

‘The RCMP is hoping to address these threats through our relationship with the government of India and the National Investigation Agency with the end goal of strengthening the safety and security of the Canadian public and South Asian community.”

The World Sikh Organization of Canada said it had suspected from the outset that the trail of Nijjar’s murder led “directly to India’s consulates and the Indian High Commission in Ottawa.”

The president of Surrey’s Guru Nanak Sikh Temple and a leading Khalistan activist, Nijjar was gunned down on June 18, 2023. Indian had long called him terrorist. Four alleged gang members were arrested in Alberta and Ontario in May.

“The government of India’s ongoing foreign interference activities in Canada and its history of targeting Sikhs in this country is only now becoming known to the general public but has been the lived experience of Sikhs for the past four decades,” the WSO said.

“Sikhs will not be daunted or intimidated by the criminal activities of the Government of India. Sikhs will continue to fearlessly advocate for Khalistan and against Indian human rights abuses, as they have the right to do.”

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca