India's crimes in Canada and the politician allegedly behind them

Fourteen bullets were fired into a house near Victoria. A building in Edmonton set on fire by arsonists with a red canister. 39-year-old man found dead in a duplex in Winnipeg.

The crimes include several across Canada allegedly part of the Indian government's campaign against activists and opponents of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Six diplomatic and consular officials posted at Indian missions abroad in Ottawa and their consulates in Toronto and Vancouver have been identified as persons of interest in the scheme.

On Monday, the Canadian government expelled them for their alleged role in crimes that mainly targeted members of the Khalistan movement, which supports the independence of India's Sikh-majority Punjab.

But Global News has learned that police have evidence that the operation is reaching new heights: It was allegedly approved by Modi's right-hand man, Amit Shah, India's second most powerful politician.

“I think there's no question that it all came from the top,” said Dan Stanton, a former Canadian Security Intelligence Service officer.

“I mean, who would take care of that, especially considering the missions here in Canada, not knowing that it was supported from above?”

“I think a rogue is very unlikely.”

He noted that Modi said in a speech in May: “This is the new India, the new India is coming to your house to kill you.”

On Monday, the RCMP took the extraordinary step of warning Canadians about suspected Indian involvement in “serious criminal activity in Canada.”

Sources say that working in Indian consulates and high commissions in Ottawa, agents use extortion and cash to induce people to perform assignments for them.

Typically, members of the South Asian community were denied visas to return to India unless they followed instructions.

The tasks they were given included spying on Sikh individuals and organizations and passing information to employees in Indian diplomatic missions.

This information was then passed on to India and used against Khalistan activists and other opponents of the Modi government.

Organized crime groups based in India have been used to carry out a range of attacks on targets in Canada, ranging from arson and drive-by shootings to assassinations.

“Despite law enforcement actions, damage continues to occur, posing a serious threat to our public safety,” the RCMP said in a statement.

“We have reached a point where we felt it was necessary to confront the Government of India and inform the public of some very serious findings that we have uncovered as a result of our investigations.”

The RCMP did not list “multiple ongoing investigations” linked to the program, but Global News confirmed some are ongoing in cities across the country.

These include a series of extortions and arsons in Edmonton that police are investigating under the name Project Gaslight, and the murder of Sukhdool Singh Gill in Winnipeg on September 20, 2023.

Others include the Sept. 2 shooting that targeted Colwood, British Columbia, the home of a Punjabi singer, and a similar drive-by shooting in Brampton, Ontario, in February.

The house in Brampton belongs to Inderjeet Singh Gosal, a Sikh-Canadian activist organizing a referendum on Khalistan independence.

He assumed the position after his predecessor, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was shot dead outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple in Surrey, British Columbia on June 18, 2023.

In May, four suspects were arrested in Alberta and Ontario. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau linked the killing to the Indian government. Police visited Gosal in August to warn him that his life was also in danger.

In an interview, Gosal said the shooting at his home and the threat to his life were “100%” part of the Indian government's operation and that is what investigators told him.

“That's exactly what they told me,” he said. He added that investigators gave him “a lot” of information about the connections, but he could not publicly discuss the details.

“The RCMP and CSIS obviously told me that yes, it is directly related to this,” he replied when asked if his case was one of those related to Indian government agents in Canada.

He noted that the social media reaction to what happened to him also confirmed the political nature of the crime. “They say, 'yes, that was a message, we're sending you a message.'

“I'm glad the truth is coming to light. It shows India's real past, its real side,” he said. It really hurts them because it shows their true colors.

“It suits Modi's right-hand man.”

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Shah, a Hindu nationalist, is a close confidant of Modi and helped ensure his victory in the 2014 elections that brought him and his Bharatiya Janata Party to power.

Shah was serving as Gujarat's home minister when he was arrested in 2010 for kidnapping and killing a Muslim couple.

He denied this and after three months of detention, he was acquitted in 2014 and, together with Modi, rose in the ranks of the BJP.

Modi became home minister in 2019, entrusting him with oversight of internal security. The BJP website credits him with limiting terrorist incidents “to sporadic cases.”

According to his profile on the BJP website, Shah “considers weak and unequal security a major obstacle to the development of society, the country and the state.”

However, he is also accused of signing up to an operation targeting pro-Khalistan activists in Canada, although India denies these allegations.

in a statement On Monday, the Indian government said it “strongly denies these ridiculous allegations and attributes them to the Trudeau government's political agenda, which focuses on vote bank politics.”

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca