Ottawa:

Canada shared evidence that Indian government agents were potentially involved in the murder of a Khalistani terrorist in British Columbia with New Delhi weeks ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday.

“Canada has shared the credible allegations that I talked about on Monday with India. We did that many weeks ago,” Trudeau told a news conference in Ottawa. “We are there to work constructively with India. We hope that they engage with us so that we can get to the bottom of this very serious matter.”

Trudeau said on Monday that Ottawa had credible intelligence linking Indian government agents to the murder in June of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, prompting an angry reaction from New Delhi. Nijjar, 45, was a Canadian citizen.

The Canadian government has amassed both human and signals intelligence in a months-long investigation into the Khalistani terrorist’s murder, CBC News reported separately on Thursday citing sources.

The report said the intelligence included communications of Indian officials present in Canada, adding that some of the information was provided by an unidentified ally in the Five Eyes alliance.

Five Eyes is an intelligence-sharing network that includes the U.S., the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

However, Trudeau has not provided any details about what Canada’s spy agencies have collected, and his office has not confirmed or denied the CBC report.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday the United States wanted to see “accountability” over the killing.

“We are deeply concerned about the allegations that Prime Minister Trudeau has raised,” Blinken told reporters in a press briefing.

The White House has raised similar concerns, but Blinken is the most senior U.S. official to have commented on the issue thus far.

“We have been consulting throughout very closely with our Canadian colleagues, not just consulting but coordinating with them on this issue,” Blinken said.

“It would be important that India work with the Canadians on this investigation. We want to see accountability,” he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on India Friday to cooperate with Canada and ensure “accountability” over the killing of a Khalistani terrorist, after Ottawa accused New Delhi of involvement.

Blinken said the United States has been in touch both with India, with which it has warming ties, and Canada, a close ally which expelled an Indian diplomat earlier this week.

“We want to see accountability. And it’s important that the investigation run its course and lead to that result,” Blinken told reporters in New York, where he was taking part in the UN General Assembly.

“We would hope that our Indian friends would cooperate with that investigation as well,” Blinken said.

Blinken, without commenting directly on the substance of the allegations, said that the United States took “very, very seriously” incidents of “transnational repression.”

“I think it’s important, more broadly, for the international system that any country that might consider engaging in such acts not do so,” he said.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday that Indian agents played a role in the June murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, near Vancouver.

Trudeau on Thursday called on India to cooperate on the investigation.

Nijjar was wanted by India for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder. He was part of the Khalistan movement, which advocates a separate Sikh homeland and was crushed by Indian security forces in the 1980s.

India has come back swinging at Canada, reducing its diplomatic staff and stopping visa services.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)