Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ridiculed the recent Canadian report as a result of "criminal leaking", linking his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and two other senior officials in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year.
During his interaction with the media in Brampton, Trudeau said, "We have seen, unfortunately, that criminals leaking top secret information to the media have consistently gotten those stories wrong."
He also added that "a national inquiry into foreign interference has highlighted that the criminals leaking information to media outlets are unreliable on top of being criminal."
Canada's National Security and Intelligence Adviser (NSIA) Nathalie G. Drouin earlier said that Ottawa was not aware of any such link.
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"The Government of Canada has not stated, nor is it aware of the evidence, linking Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi, (External Affairs) Minister (S) Jaishankar, or NSA (Ajit) Doval to the serious criminal activity within Canada," the statement said.
The statement came after a report appeared in the daily Globe and Mail on Tuesday citing an unnamed senior national security official regarding the involvement of PM Modi and other top officials in the killing of Nijjar.
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After the report was out, India refuted the claims and in a strongly worded statement trashed the "smear campaign".
External Affairs Ministry (EAM) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said they do not normally comment on media reports but such ludicrous statements made to a newspaper purportedly by a Canadian government source should be dismissed with the contempt they deserve.
India-Canada ties worsened after Canada linked six diplomats and officials including High Commissioner Sanjay Verma to violent criminal activity in the country.
India rejected the allegations and expelled six Canadian diplomats including High Commissioner Stewart Wheeler.
Nijjar was killed on June 18 last year in Surrey, British Columbia.
