Sikh community advocates in Canada are raising alarm over a newspaper report alleging that Indian consular officials in Vancouver were involved in the 2023 killing of a prominent Canadian Sikh separatist activist.

The World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO) said on Monday that it was “deeply disturbed” by the article in The Globe and Mail, which said Indian consular staff “supplied information to assist in the assassination” of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

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Quoting two unnamed sources in law enforcement and national security, the newspaper said a visa officer at the Indian consulate in Vancouver – believed to also be an officer with India’s external intelligence agency (RAW) – used his position “to gather information” about Nijjar.

According to the report, the information was given to another RAW officer in New Delhi, who communicated with a criminal group known as the Bishnoi gang, which has been accused of a series of crimes in Canada.

The sources told the Globe that “a Canada-based member of the gang then helped arrange the killing” of Nijjar, who was fatally shot outside a Sikh gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, in June 2023.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs and consulate in Toronto did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s requests for comment on Monday about the Globe and Mail report.

Asked about the allegations in the report, Periasamy Kumaran, a secretary in the Indian External Affairs Ministry, told reporters that India “categorically rejects allegations of involvement in transnational violence or organised crime”.

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“These claims are baseless, politically motivated and unsupported by credible evidence despite repeated requests,” he said.

‘Grave attack’

“This is a grave attack on Canadian sovereignty and the safety of Sikh Canadians,” the WSO said in a statement shared on social media about the allegations.

The group urged Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to ensure the investigation into Nijjar’s killing “extends beyond the gunmen to those who directed” the killing, “including officials in the Government of India”.

The call was made as Carney on Monday concluded a trip to India, part of his push to diversify Canada’s trading partners in the face of United States President Donald Trump’s tariffs and other threats.

The visit, which saw the Canadian prime minister meet with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, drew widespread criticism from Sikh activists in Canada, who have accused Carney of setting aside human rights in favour of trade.

Nijjar’s case also jumped back into the headlines after a senior Canadian government official told reporters before Carney’s India trip that Ottawa believed New Delhi was no longer involved in violent crimes in Canada.

“The statement … does not reflect the reality being experienced by members of the Sikh community across Canada,” the WSO said last week, noting that another Sikh separatist activist in Canada and a former associate of Nijjar’s was warned of threats against his life last month.

Nijjar, who served as president of the Sikh gurdwara where he was killed, was a prominent leader in the Khalistan movement, which advocates for a sovereign Sikh state in India’s Punjab region.

A few months after his fatal shooting, then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government was investigating “credible allegations of a potential link” between India and Nijjar’s killing, spurring a diplomatic crisis between the two countries.

India has vehemently denied any involvement in the killing of Nijjar, who had been designated by New Delhi as being “involved in terrorism”, or in other alleged threats against prominent Khalistan supporters in Canada.

It also has accused Ottawa of not doing enough to deter the Khalistan movement, which it views as a threat to its national security.

Canada rebuffs questions

But that hasn’t dampened concerns about Indian government interference in Canada.

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Canada’s federal police force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), said in 2024 that it was investigating “the involvement of agents of the Government of India in serious criminal activity in Canada”, including extortion and homicides.

The RCMP said there had been “well over a dozen credible and imminent threats to life” against members of the pro-Khalistan movement in Canada.

Asked about The Globe and Mail report, Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand told reporters that Canada and India would “continue to collaborate on national security and law enforcement”.

“We’ve outlawed or listed the Bishnoi gang [as a ‘terrorist’ group]. … We have a number of pieces of legislation, including on extortion. We are going to continue to ensure that we are addressing all instances of foreign interference and transnational repression,” she said in New Delhi.

But Anand refused to comment directly on any of the allegations linked to Nijjar’s case, citing the continued criminal case against the suspects accused of killing the activist.

“As I’ve said, there is an active investigation that is ongoing and it would be irresponsible for me to comment, to probe, to discuss any matter that is the subject of an ongoing investigation,” Anand said.