RCMP says it has ‘strong evidence’ linking campaign of violence to the ‘highest levels’ of Indian government | CBC News

The head of the RCMP says the Mounties have strong evidence showing the “highest levels” of the Indian government were involved in orchestrating a campaign of violence and intimidation on Canadian soil. 

“We do have strong evidence — not intelligence, but evidence — that this goes all the way up to the highest level,” Commissioner Mike Duheme told CBC’s Power & Politics on Friday.

“Some of the evidence I am referring to will eventually come out through the judicial process.” 

Duheme’s sit-down interview comes more than a week after he went public at a news conference with the RCMP’s investigation. The RCMP alleges agents of the Indian government were complicit in widespread crimes in Canada, including murder, extortion and intimidation.

Duheme said police evidence shows Indian diplomats and consular staff collected information and brought that information to the Indian government, at which point instructions would be fed to criminal organizations to carry out acts of violence.

The commissioner said police assembled evidence of credible and imminent threats to members of the South Asian community, specifically members of the pro-Khalistan movement.

Last week, the federal government announced it had expelled six Indian diplomats — including the high commissioner, India’s chief envoy to Canada. India has denied the accusations and swiftly retaliated by kicking Canadian diplomats out of its country.

“In my 37-year career, this is the first time I’ve actually seen this,” Duheme said Friday, describing the magnitude of the investigation. “We’ve learned a lot from it.”

Duheme said he believes that since the RCMP went public, the threat to South Asian communities has decreased.

“I truly believe, based on the information that we have, that we’ve had a significant impact on how they were operating.” he said.

“I’ve got to highlight that when you’re dealing with organized crime figures, you can deal with it, but they usually regroup and find different tactics. But our investigators are on the ground monitoring everything that’s going on.” 

Mounties tried to alert Indian police: Duheme

During last week’s news conference, the RCMP said they’ve warned 13 Canadians since September 2023 that they could be targets of harassment or threats by Indian agents. Some of those individuals have received multiple threats.

Duheme said he believes those people “are in a better place” now.

Duheme said the Mounties first tried to share evidence linking crimes in Canada to the upper levels of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government with the Indian police, but were unsuccessful.

Duheme said RCMP Deputy Commissioner Mark Flynn, who heads the federal policing wing, met in Singapore earlier this month with officials from the Indian government, along with Canada’s national security adviser Nathalie Drouin and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs David Morrison.

“At that meeting, the deputy commissioner did present evidence as to how agents of the government of India, through diplomats and consular officials, were collecting information on their behalf on Canadians, bringing it back to the government of India, and that would flow through actionable items to organized crime groups,” he said.

The Washington Post has reported, based on anonymous sources, that the campaign of violence and intimidation in Canada was approved by Indian Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah.

Duheme said he couldn’t comment on the evidence.

India has denied working with criminal organizations to target Sikh separatists in Canada and has accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of having a “political agenda” behind the allegations.