On Monday, Canada accused the Indian government of being involved in the assassination of a Canadian Sikh leader in British Columbia last June and took immediate action by expelling a senior Indian diplomat, after New Delhi rejected the charge as “absurd.”

Canada on Monday accused India’s government of involvement in the killing of a Canadian Sikh leader near Vancouver last June, prompting tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions after New Delhi rejected the charge as “absurd.”

The accusations sent already sour relations between Ottawa and New Delhi to a dramatic new low.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told an emergency parliamentary session that his government had “credible allegations” linking Indian agents to the June slaying of exiled Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia.

“The involvement of any foreign government in the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” Trudeau said.

He called “in the strongest possible terms” on the Indian government to cooperate to resolve the matter.

Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said the Trudeau government had taken immediate action.

“Today, we have expelled a senior Indian diplomat from Canada,” she said without naming the official.

Jolie said the expelled Indian heads the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s foreign intelligence agency, in Canada.

India’s foreign ministry on Tuesday rejected claims of involvement in Nijjar’s death and said it had ordered an unnamed senior Canadian diplomat to leave the country within five days.

“Allegations of Government of India’s involvement in any act of violence in Canada are absurd,” the ministry said in a statement, adding: “We are a democratic polity with a strong commitment to rule of law.”

It said Trudeau, who visited New Delhi this month for the G20 summit, had already made similar allegations to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and that they had been “completely rejected.”

Nijjar, whom India had declared a wanted terrorist, was gunned down on June 18 in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver home to a large Sikh community.

Canada has the largest population of Sikhs globally outside of India.

Nijjar advocated for the creation of an independent Sikh state to be carved out of parts of northern India and perhaps part of Pakistan.

Miroslava Salazar, with AFP