Canadian PM hits out at India over US charges in Nikhil Gupta: “We’ve been talking about from the very beginning”

In response to the US Department of Justice accusing an Indian man, Nikhil Gupta, of “murder-for-hire,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada stated that this is exactly what Canada has been discussing all along.

India needs to take this seriously, Trudeau said. “The news coming out of the United States further underscores what we’ve been talking about from the very beginning, which is that India needs to take this seriously,” Justin Trudeau said in Ottawa, as reported by Reuters. “The Indian government needs to work with us to ensure that we’re getting to the bottom of this,” he said.

What is Nikhil Gupta case

The US Department of Justice charged Nikhil Gupta, an Indian, on Wednesday for conspiring to kill a resident of New York City “who advocated for a Sikh sovereign state in northern India” with the help of an Indian government employee.

The “government employee” and Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an Indian terrorist labeled as a resident of New York City, were not named in the letter. According to the report, the government worker asked Nikhil Gupta to kill Pannu. In June of this year, Czech authorities detained Nikhil Gupta after he allegedly contacted an undercover police officer about a murder.

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There is reference of Hardeep Singh Nijjar

The Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was slain in Canada, was also referenced in the letter. Justin Trudeau claimed that Indian spies were responsible for the murder; India denied this accusation and requested proof. As a result, India and China had a diplomatic spat that began to somewhat improve when India started providing visa services again in Canada. India made it apparent that Canada has not shown any proof for their allegation, and that country is prepared to assist with the investigation should proof be offered.

In response to the news of the aborted attempt to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the MEA previously established a high-level inquiry team to investigate the security concerns brought up by the US. The MEA has not yet responded to the US indictment.

In her remarks on Wednesday, Canada’s foreign minister Melanie Joly encouraged India to cooperate more with the ongoing murder probe. “Clearly we expect more cooperation on their part and more engagement on their part,” added the minister. No one has been accused of Nijjar’s murder by Canada as of yet.