India summons Canada's top diplomat after allegation linking Indian envoy to probe into Nijjar killing

The Ministry of External Affairs' has taken strong opposition to Canada's observation against the Indian High Commissioner.

India on Monday summoned Canada's top diplomat after the Trudeau government attempted to link the Indian high commissioner to a probe into the killing of Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, as per multiple media reports.

The Canadian Charge d'Affaires (CDA) was summoned by MEA's Secretary (East) Jaideep Mazumdar and it was underlined to him that in an atmosphere of extremism and violence, the Trudeau government's actions "endangered" the safety of Indian diplomats and other officials.

In a hard-hitting response, India, strongly rejecting the allegations against High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma, described the charges as "preposterous imputations" and ascribes them to the "political agenda of the Trudeau government that is centred around vote bank politics".

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said India received a "diplomatic communication from Canada yesterday suggesting that the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats are 'persons of interest' in a matter related to an investigation in that country".