'Lawrence Bishnoi Gang Linked to Indian Govt': Canadian Police's Bizarre Charge Amid Diplomatic Row

Ottawa: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) alleged that the 'agents' of the Indian government were connected with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang to spread terror on Canadian soil. The allegation comes after hours after India withdrew its diplomats from Ottawa.

Speaking at a press conference on Thanksgiving Day, RCMP Assistant Commissioner Brigitte Gaubin alleged, "What we have seen is the use of organised crime elements, and it’s been publicly attributed to one organised crime gang in particular… the Bishnoi group is connected to the agents of India."

Furthermore, when asked if the department is accusing the Indian government of "homicide, extortion, intimidation, and coercion," Commissioner Mike Duheme said "Yes."

Lawrence Bishnoi is a 31-year-old gangster from Punjab, who is currently held in the Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad.

The Mumbai police suspect Bishnoi is suspected to be behind the killing of Baba Siddiqui, a three-time MLA from Maharashtra on Saturday night.

India-Canada Diplomatic Row

This comes amid the rising diplomatic tension between India and Canada. Responded to Canada's disgraceful remark on the High Commissioner who the latter called a ‘person of interest,' stepping up for the nation, India in a major step, expelled six Canadian diplomats and asked them to leave the country. However, in a tit-for-tat move, Canada also expelled six Indian envoys and Trudeau has now made an attempt to justify this move.

Later, Canadian PM Trudeau made blasphemous claims about the Indian diplomats and yet again called them 'persons of interest in criminal activities'.

Trudeau said, "As the Commissioner of the RCMP, Mike Duheme, stated earlier today, the RCMP has clear and compelling evidence that agents of the Government of India have engaged in, and continue to engage in, activities that pose a significant threat to public safety. This includes clandestine information gathering techniques, coercive behaviour targeting South Asian Canadians, and involvement in over a dozen threatening and violent acts, including murder. This is unacceptable."

He further added, "While attempts have been made by the RCMP and national security officials to work with the Government of India and Indian law enforcement counterparts on this matter, they have been repeatedly refused. That is why, this weekend, Canadian officials took an extraordinary step. They met with Indian officials to share RCMP evidence, which concluded six agents of the Government of India are persons of interest in criminal activities. And despite repeated requests to the Government of India, they have decided not to co-operate. Given that the Government of India still refuses to co-operate, my colleague, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, had only one choice."

‘India Was Possibly if not Probably, Behind Nijjar’s Killing': Trudeau

Accusing India of being ‘possibly involved in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar', PM Justin Trudeau in another press interaction said, “This is not a choice that Canada made to create a chill in Canada-India relations. India is an important democracy is a country with which we have deep historical people-to-people business ties at a time where the instability around geopolitics means democracies have to stick together. That is why when we started to understand through intelligence agencies that India was possibly if not probably, behind (Hardeep Singh) Nijjar's killing, the killing of a Canadian on Canadian soil last summer, our first choice to the government of India to say, we know this has happened, work with us to fix this. We don't want to be having this fight, but obviously the killing of a Canadian on Canadian soil is not something that we can ignore as a country. So every step of the way we have apprised India of what we know.”