Canada’s intelligence agency chief David Vigneault paid two under-the-wraps visits to India in February and March to apprise Indian officials of the case relating to the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, people familiar with the matter said. Vigneault, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), is learnt to have shared information that emerged during Ottawa’s investigation into the killing. The ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations in September last year of the “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar.

 

New Delhi rejected Trudeau’s charges as “absurd”. Vigneault’s visits to India came weeks before Canada arrested three Indian nationals -- Karanpreet Singh (28), Kamalpreet Singh (22) and Karan Brar (22) -- on charges of alleged involvement in Nijjar’s killing. Subsequently, a fourth Indian, Amandeep Singh, was arrested by the Canadian authorities. Nijjar, who was declared a terrorist by India, was shot dead outside a gurudwara in British Columbia in Surrey on June 18 last year.