Canada Intel Chief Vigneault Visited India Twice This Year In Nijjar Case: Report

Canadian intel chief Vigneault has made the visits to India in the first quarter of this year, reports said.

Vigneault travelled to New Delhi in February and March – before Canada announced the arrest of four Indian nationals in connection with Nijjar’s killing, HT reported.

The report also said Vigneault provided additional information, including intercepted communications, to his Indian interlocutors.

India-Canada relations hit lowest ebb after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement in the country’s Parliament on September 18 last year about “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian government agents and Nijjar’s murder.

India dismissed Trudeau’s allegation as “absurd” and officials have maintained it is not the government’s policy to engage in acts like the killing of Nijjar.

Nijjar was killed outside a gurdwara in Surrey, 30 kilometers from Vancouver, on June 18 last year.

Nijjar was declared a terrorist by India in 2020 and was wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The report said the information provided by Vigneault included phone numbers, intercepts of communications using encrypted messaging apps and other information gathered by Canadian investigators.

India has been maintaining that Canada has not provided any evidence regarding Nijjar’s killing. On May 13, External affairs minister S Jaishankar in a presser said India is open to conducting a probe if Canada has any evidence that is relevant.

“We have never received anything which is specific and worthy of being pursued by our investigative agencies, and I am not aware that anything has changed in the last few days in that regard,” Jaishankar had said.

Vigneault’s visits came weeks before Canadian authorities arrested and charged three Indian nationals – Karanpreet Singh, 28, Kamalpreet Singh and Karan Brar, both 22 – for the murder of Nijjar on May 3.

Canadian authorities subsequently arrested a fourth Indian identified as 22-year-old Amandeep Singh.