The Indian High Commissioner to Canada who was targeted by Justin Trudeau and has since been recalled by New Delhi reiterated today that “not a shred of evidence was shared” with him by the Canadian authorities who labelled him and five other diplomats as ‘persons of interest’ in the murder investigation of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Speaking exclusively to NDTV in his first interview since his return to India, Mr Verma said that it was in fact India which had shared detailed evidence of radical and extremist groups operating on Canadian soil with the Justin Trudeau government, but “no action was taken on it” by either the government or the authorities.

“Besides the evidence shared with Canada, New Delhi, through its High Commission, also repeatedly sent extradition requests for 26 radical elements and gangsters, but nothing was done about it by the,” he said, adding that it is purely “double standards” by Canada, that “one law applies to you and another law applies to me, that doesn’t work in the world anymore. In the past countries of the Global South would do as was told to them by the developed nations, but gone are those days,” he said.

He revealed that in his last meeting with the Canadian authorities, it came as a surprise to him when he was informed by them that he and five other colleagues were now labelled “persons of interest” and that they should “ask the Indian government to remove their diplomatic immunity”.

“Now that was going too far,” he told NDTV, adding that he communicated this to New Delhi, which then decided to recall him and the other diplomats.

Indian students in Canada “should be aware of their surrounding” and resist radicalisation attempts by Khalistani terrorists and extremists, Sanjay Kumar Verma, India’s recalled High Commissioner told NDTV Thursday evening. Mr Verma urged the parents of students in Canada to “please talk to them regularly and try to understand” their situation, and to guide them away from unwise choices.

“At this time in Canada there is a threat from Khalistani terrorists and extremists to the larger Indian community… including outreach to students,” Mr Verma told NDTV.

“How this works is… given the condition of that economy there are few jobs… so students are offered money and food and this is how Khalistani terrorists influence them with nefarious plans.”

Some students, he said, are also persuaded to take photographs or videos of themselves ‘protesting’ – shouting anti-India slogans or insulting the flag – outside Indian diplomatic buildings in Canada.

“Then they are told to go seek asylum… because their version will be, ‘If I go back to India now, I will be punished…’ and there have been cases of such students being given asylum,” he said.

There are, therefore, various kinds of negative influences acting on Indian students in Canada that are pushing them towards the wrong direction, Mr Verma told NDTV, as he appealed to parents.

Mr Verma’s comments come amid worsening India – Canada diplomatic ties after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s unsubstantiated allegations about “agents” of New Delhi being involved in the killing of Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, in June last year.

India has junked the “absurd” and “malicious” claim – which Mr Trudeau has made repeatedly – and also dismissed Canadian federal police allegations that Mr Verma and his staff were linked to organised criminal elements in that country, specifically the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

Mr Verma was withdrawn from Canada last week after the Justin Trudeau government named him as a ‘person of interest’ in federal investigations linking “agents of the Indian government’ to organised criminal gangs, including the Lawrence Bishnoi outfit.

Indian envoy Sanjay Verma criticized Canada’s leniency towards Khalistani terrorists, accusing them of human trafficking and funding extremism. He questioned Canada’s investigation into Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder and condemned Nijjar’s extrajudicial killing, labeling Canada’s move to implicate Indian diplomats as unprofessional and politically motivated for electoral gains.