India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said that the Canadian media report alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi knew about the so-called plot to take out designated Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last June was "ludicrous".
"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," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement, responding to questions about the report published in The Globe and Mail this week. "Smear campaigns like this only further damage our already strained ties."
Citing a Canadian government source, The Globe and Mail report claimed that the alleged assassination plot against Nijjar was orchestrated by Home Minister Amit Shah. The source suspected that PM Modi, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar were "informed" about the alleged plot.
This is the first time that Canadian media has named PM Modi and EAM Jaishankar over the alleged plot against Nijjar. The Canadian source, however, acknowledged that Ottawa had no "direct evidence" to validate its claims against PM Modi and others.
New Delhi has long maintained that Canadian authorities haven't shared a "shred of evidence" with New Delhi on the Nijjar probe.
The Indian government has also rejected Trudeau’s charges of linking New Delhi to Nijjar’s death and other criminal activities in Canada.