Trudeau Government Denies Linking PM Modi, S Jaishankar, Ajit Doval To Criminal Activities Within Canada

The Canadian government on Friday denied the linking with  Prime Minister Modi, Minister Jaishankar or NSA Doval in connection with the serious criminal activity within Canada.

A day before India strongly objected to a report in the Canada-based Globe and Mail newspaper linking the death of NIA-designated terrorist Hardeep Nijjar to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Canada officially denied the reports.

Nathalie G Drouin, the Deputy Clerk of the Privy Council and National Security and Intelligence Advisor to the Prime Minister in the statement released by the Privy Council Office said, "On October 14th, because of a significant and ongoing threat to public safety, the RCMP and officials took the extraordinary step of making public accusations of serious criminal activity in Canada perpetrated by agents of the Government of India".

"The Government of Canada has not stated, nor is it aware of evidence, linking Prime Minister Modi, Minister Jaishankar, or NSA Doval to the serious criminal activity within Canada," the statement added.

"Any suggestion to the contrary is both speculative and inaccurate", the statement concluded.

Earlier, India had strongly denied the reports and the Ministry of External Affairs had emphasised that "smear campaigns" like this only "further damage our already strained ties."

The MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiwal said, "We do not normally comment on media reports. However, such ludicrous statements made to a newspaper purportedly by a Canadian government source should be dismissed with the contempt they deserve. Smear campaigns like this only further damage our already strained ties." 

(With ANI Inputs)