Amid heightened diplomatic tension with India, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called his own intelligence officials "criminals" for linking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to violence on Canadian soil.
Addressing media in Brampton on Friday, Trudeau said, "We have seen, unfortunately, that criminals leaking top-secret information to the media have consistently gotten those stories wrong."
"That's why we had a national enquiry into foreign interference, which has highlighted that criminals leaking information to media outlets are unreliable on top of being criminals," he added.
The development came after Canada, on Thursday, fact-checked and denied a report linking top Indian leaders to criminal activities on Canadian soil.
In a statement posted on a government website, Nathalie Drouin, Mr Trudeau's intelligence adviser, said: "The Government of Canada has not stated, nor is it aware of the evidence, linking Prime Minister Modi, Minister Jaishankar, or NSA Doval to the serious criminal activity within Canada. Any suggestion to the contrary is both speculative and inaccurate."
Canada's statement came after Globe and Mail newspaper published a report this week, alleging that Canadian security agencies believed PM Modi knew about the violent plots and said Mr Jaishankar and National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval were also in the loop.
Last month, The Canadian foreign ministry alleged Union Home Minister Amit Shah was behind a campaign of intimidation in Canada. Ottawa says it has evidence linking Indian government agents to the 2023 murder of Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who held a Canadian passport.
The ties between the two countries have come under severe strain following Trudeau's allegations in September last year of a "potential involvement" of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who held a Canadian passport.
New Delhi rejected Trudeau's charges as "absurd". India has maintained that the main issue between the two countries is that of Canada giving space to pro-Khalistan elements operating from Canadian soil with impunity.
The row has escalated to a point where both countries have expelled each other's top diplomats.
