Indian ex-official indicted by US dismisses allegations, family claims
\n OTTAWA
\nIndia\u2019s envoy to Canada, who is being expelled over what Ottawa says are links to the murder of a Sikh leader, insisted in an interview he was innocent and said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had wrecked bilateral political ties.
\nBoth countries on Monday ordered out six diplomats in tit-for-tat moves over Ott\u00adawa\u2019s allegations that New Delhi was targeting Indian dissidents on Canadian soil.
\nTrudeau specifically tied the six to the murder of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year in British Columbia.
\nSanjay Kumar Verma, India\u2019s envoy to Canada, told CTV that Trudeau had been relying on intelligence rather than evidence.
\n\u201cOn the basis of intelligence, if you want to destroy a relationship, be my guest. And that\u2019s what he did,\u201d Verma said in an interview broadcast on Sunday.
\nAsked whether he had anything to do with Nijjar\u2019s murder, Verma said: \u201cNothing at all. No evidence was presented. (This is) politically motivated.\u201d
\nCanada is home to the highest population of Sikhs outside their home state of Punjab and demonstrations in favour of a separate homeland carved out of India have irked New Delhi.
\nIndian ex-official \u2018dismisses charges\u2019
\nAn Indian ex-official charged by the US with directing a murder-for-hire plot has dismissed the allegations, his family said, expressing shock that Vikash Yadav was wanted by the FBI.
\nYadav, 39, described the claims as false media reports when he spoke to his cousin, Avinash Yadav, the relative said on Saturday in their ancestral village about 100 km from the capital New Delhi.
\nThe US Department of Justice charged Yadav with leading an unsuccessful plot to murder Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun last year. Yadav was an official of India\u2019s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) spy service, according to the indictment unsealed on Thursday.
\nIndia, which has said it is investigating the allegations, said Yadav is no longer a government employee, without saying whether he had been an intelligence officer.
\n\u201cThe family has no information\u201d about him working for the spy agency, Yadav\u2019s cousin said in the village of Pranpura in Haryana state. \u201cHe never mentioned anything about it,\u201d despite the two speaking to each other regularly.
\n\u201cFor us, he is still working for the CRPF,\u201d the federal Central Reserve Police Force, which he joined in 2009, said Avinash Yadav, 28.
\n\u201cHe told us he is deputy commandant\u201d and was trained as a paratrooper.
\nThe cousin said he did not know where Yadav was but that he lived with his wife and a daughter who was born last year.
\nIndian officials have not commented on Yadav\u2019s whereabouts. The Washington Post, citing American officials, reported on Thursday that Yadav was still in India and that the US was expected to seek his extradition.
\nHis mother, Sudesh Yadav, 65, said she was still in shock. \u201cWhat can I say? I do not know whether the US government is telling the truth or not.\u201d
\nThe US accuses Yadav of directing another Indian citizen, Nikhil Gupta, who it alleges paid a hitman $15,000, to kill Pannun.
\nBut in Pranpura, Yadav\u2019s cousin pointed to the family\u2019s modest, single-storey house, saying, \u201cWhere will so much money come from? Can you see any Audis and Mercedes lined up outside this house?\u201d Most of the village\u2019s nearly 500 families have traditionally sent young men to join the security forces, locals said.
\nYadav\u2019s father was an officer with India\u2019s border force till he died in 2007, and his brother works with the police in Haryana, said Avinash Yadav.
\nAnother cousin, Amit Yadav, 41, said Vikash Yadav had been a quiet boy interested in books and athletics and was a national-level marksman.
\n\u201cOnly the government of India and Vikash know what has happened,\u201d he said, adding that Indian officials should inform them.
\nIf the government \u201cabandons\u201d a paramilitary officer, Amit Yadav said, \u201cthen who will work for them?\u201d Avinash Yadav said: \u201cWe want the Indian government to support us, they should inform us what has happened. Otherwise where will we go?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Indian ex-official indicted by US dismisses allegations, family claims OTTAWA India\u2019s envoy to Canada, who is being expelled over what Ottawa says are links to the murder of a Sikh leader, insisted in an interview he was innocent and said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had wrecked bilateral political ties. Both countries on Monday ordered out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438636,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-438626","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n