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India's envoy to Canada has accused Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of destroying the ties between the two countries, asserting that he had nothing to do with the killing of a Khalistani separatist and that the charges against him are "politically motivated".
India recently expelled six Canadian diplomats and announced that it was withdrawing its high commissioner in Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma after dismissing Ottawa's allegations linking the envoy to the probe into the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Canada, however, said it had expelled six Indian diplomats.
The diplomatic row intensified after the Canadian authorities described Verma and some other Indian diplomats as "persons of interest" in the probe into the killing of Nijjar.
In an interview with Canada's private broadcaster CTV News aired on Sunday, Verma said that Trudeau's allegations over Nijjar's killing were based on intelligence inputs rather than concrete evidence.
"The problem is that when he accused, he himself admitted there was no hard evidence. There was intelligence. On the basis of intelligence, if you want to destroy a relationship, be my guest. And that's what he (Trudeau) did," Verma said.
Testifying before the public inquiry into foreign interference in federal electoral processes and democratic institutions last week, Trudeau admitted that he had only intelligence and no "hard evidentiary proof" when he alleged the involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of Nijjar.
"Nothing at all. No evidence was presented (by Canada). (This is) politically motivated," the outgoing Indian envoy said when asked by the anchor if he had anything to do with Nijjar's killing.
Nijjar, who was declared a terrorist by India, was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18 last year.
The Indian diplomat said Canada didn't follow the practice which should have been there.
"Evidence should have been shared first, but someone decided to stand in the Parliament and talk about a thing for which he himself has said there was 'no hard evidence'," he said, referring to Trudeau's address in the Canadian Parliament in September last year when he alleged involvement of Indian government's agents in the killing of Nijjar.
"And the day on which he did that, since then, he has made it sure that the bilateral relation with India only goes downwards, spiralling down," the diplomat said.
Asked about some Canadian officials wishing to visit India to share evidence in the case, he said they wanted to leave for India on October 8 and provided the completed visa application form that day only.
"Visas needed to be affixed for any delegation," he said, adding "for any government delegation to travel to another country, you need an agenda to go by. There was no agenda at all."
"There was no agenda shared with us. Agenda was shared at the last minute, I believe, after the flight would have departed," he said.
"I think it was pre-planned. They knew that visas cannot be issued in half an hour or in an hour and therefore they did it. I think it was absolutely politically motivated," Verma said.
The Indian high commissioner said India has been asking for evidence in the case.
"In fact, we have been asking for (evidence for) the last one year, which the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) has also said," he said.
"And then if you do not share with us the reason for your visit, how do we know?" Verma said.
He strongly denied the allegations against him.
"I, as the High Commissioner of India, have never done anything of that kind," Verma said.
The relations between the two countries came under severe strain following Trudeau's allegations in September last year of a “potential” involvement of Indian agents in Nijjar's killing.
New Delhi rejected Trudeau's charges as “absurd”.
India has been maintaining that the main issue between the two countries is that of Canada giving space to pro-Khalistan elements operating from Canadian soil with impunity.
India has strongly rejected attempts by Canadian authorities to link Indian agents with criminal gangs in Canada with official sources in New Delhi even saying that Ottawa's assertion that it shared evidence with New Delhi in the Nijjar case was simply not true.