India said it is withdrawing High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and other officials from Canada after disclosing they had been named as “persons of interest” in an investigation into the murder of a Sikh activist in British Columbia.

India late Monday accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government of baselessly targeting its officials and endangering their safety. “We have no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure their security,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

When asked for comment, the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi said police officials were due to hold a press conference on Monday to discuss criminal activity in Canada with connections to India.

The withdrawal marks a further deterioration of ties between the two countries, following Trudeau’s allegation last year that India was behind the the alleged assassination of a Sikh separatist and Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

That allegation provoked a fierce backlash from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, with India expelling dozens of Canadian diplomats and restricting travel. India on Monday said it reserved the right to take further action, and hinted that it could take retaliatory action against Canadian diplomats in India.

The Indian government’s announcement that it was withdrawing its high commissioner from Ottawa came just hours after disclosing that it had received a diplomatic communication from Canada that Verma and other diplomats were “persons of interest” in an investigation. India’s government didn’t specify the investigation, but the statement referred to allegations made by Trudeau in September 2023, when the Canadian leader first accused India of involvement in the Nijjar murder.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has repeatedly denied any involvement in the murder of Nijjar, who was designated as a terrorist under Indian law last year.

Canadian police to date have charged multiple Indian nationals in Nijjar’s murder. U.S. prosecutors in a separate case have accused an Indian government agent of directing a thwarted plot to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist and U.S. citizen, on American soil. After those allegations, which included references to the Nijjar case, the Indian government formed a committee of inquiry to look into the issue.

On Monday, the State Department said the Indian investigating team would visit Washington this week to discuss the Department of Justice case against Nikhil Gupta, an Indian citizen who is accused of trying to hire a hitman to kill Pannun on orders from an unnamed Indian government employee. Gupta has pled not guilty.

India has “has informed the United States they are continuing their efforts to investigate other linkages of the former government employee and will determine follow up steps, as necessary,” the State Department said.

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(With assistance from Sudhi Ranjan Sen and Iain Marlow.)

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