Canada shared Nijjar killing allegations with India ‘weeks ago,’ Trudeau says

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday shot back at India’s assertion it has not received any intelligence on Canada’s allegations that evidence suggests agents of the Indian government may have killed a Canadian citizen.

Trudeau said Friday that Canada shared the “credible allegations” that India’s government may have been involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen “weeks ago.”

“Canada has shared the credible allegations — that I talked about on Monday — with India,” Trudeau said. “We did that many weeks ago. We are there to work constructively with India and we hope that they engage with us so we can get to the bottom of this very serious manner.”

India has repeatedly said that it received no information on the allegations from Canada before Trudeau’s announcement on Monday revealing them.

Trudeau said then that intelligence suggests agents of the Indian government may be behind the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh activist and Canadian citizen living in B.C. He was shot dead on June 18 in Surrey, B.C.

2:15 India shuts visa offices in Canada

India has denied the allegation and has stopped processing visas for Canadians wanting to visit the country.

A spokesperson for India’s foreign ministry told reporters on Thursday that “no specific information has been shared by Canada on this case.”

“We are willing to look at any specific information. We have conveyed this to the Canadian side, made it clear to them we are willing to look at any specific information that is provided to us. But so far we have not received any such specific information,” Arindam Bagchi said in India.

Both Canada and India have expelled diplomats and issued travel advisories for the other country.

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On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. wants to see “accountability” for the killing. He is the most senior U.S. official who has commented on the issue so far.

“We are deeply concerned about the allegations that Prime Minister Trudeau has raised,” Blinken told reporters in a press briefing.

“We have been consulting throughout very closely with our Canadian colleagues, not just consulting but co-ordinating with them on this issue.

“It would be important that India work with the Canadians on this investigation. We want to see accountability.”

— with files from Global News’ Aaron D’Andrea and Reuters.