India’s high commissioner to Canada has denied any involvement in the murder of a Canadian Sikh leader who was killed in British Columbia last year even though the Canadian government has named him as a person of interest in the assassination.

India’s government is denying that it works with mobsters to target Sikh separatists in Canada as alleged publicly this week by Canadian officials in an escalating diplomatic dispute.

The diplomatic rift has suddenly grown more stark as Canada amplifies its accusations that India is directing lethal operations abroad.

Twice since July 2022, Moninder Singh, spokesperson for a Sikh advocacy group in Canada's British Columbia province, has had police come to his door in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey.Twice, Singh said,

When India and Canada expelled each other’s diplomats in the past few days, the exchange escalated a tussle over a rash of attacks on Sikhs living in Canada in recent years and spurred headlines around the globe.

Ottawa's accusations this week detailing a deadly Indian campaign against its Canada-based critics may have further derailed bilateral relations -- but to Sikh activists, the striking disclosures brought validation.

There are roughly 770,000 Sikhs in Canada, about 2 per cent of the population - the largest Sikh community outside India Ottawa's accusations this week detailing a deadly Indian campaign against its Canada-based critics may have further derailed bilateral relations - but to Sikh activists,