OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s national security adviser says she shared the explosive allegations about Indian officials taking part in criminal activity in Canada with her counterpart in New Delhi before the RCMP went public with the news this month.
Nathalie Drouin told the House of Commons national security committee today there was an effort to work with the Indian government to ensure accountability.
On Oct. 14, the RCMP said Indian diplomats and consular officials were persons of interest in cases of extortion, coercion and violence, including murder, that targeted Canadian citizens.
Drouin says a meeting was held with Prime Minister Narenda Modi’s national security adviser, Ajit Doval, in Singapore two days earlier.
Drouin says the decision was made to go public when it became evident the Indian government would not co-operate with Canada on proposed accountability measures.
The RCMP said it took the extraordinary step of talking publicly about ongoing investigations because of threats to public safety.
The same day as the RCMP news conference, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly announced Canada was expelling the Indian high commissioner and five other diplomats.
The Indian government denies the allegations and has expelled six Canadian diplomats.
Drouin told the committee that Canada has evidence the Indian government first gathered information on Indian nationals in Canada through diplomatic channels and proxies.
She said the information was then passed along to the government in New Delhi, which allegedly works with Lawrence Bishnoi’s criminal network.
Bishnoi is currently in prison in India, but Drouin said his vast criminal network has been linked to homicides, assassination plots, coercion and other violent crimes in Canada.
Liberal MP Iqwinder Gaheer said this reinforces “whispers” that have existed in the Sikh community for years and described the situation as something out of a Bollywood movie.
Drouin is appearing at the committee alongside RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme and CSIS director Daniel Rogers.
Both Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Joly are expected to appear at future meetings as the study continues.