5 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Mar 30, 2026 05:52 PM IST
Eighteen months after he was framed in the Hardeep Singh Nijjar assassination case in Canada, without evidence, former High Commissioner Sanjay Verma said allegations levelled by then Canadian PM Justin Trudeau were politically motivated, had a huge impact on his life and that of his colleagues and their families.
Days before leaving Delhi post retirement, in an exclusive conversation with The Indian Express, Verma recalled those days when “he was treated as a criminal… As if I am a murderer who is moving around on the streets of Canada”.
“The human side of it was huge… My colleagues and our families had to undergo such emotional trauma. Some of their spouses had to leave jobs, children had to leave university to come back with their parents,” he said, sitting at his official residence in Delhi before he leaves for his hometown, Patna, where he wants to settle down.
In October 2024, Ottawa accused Indian diplomats and consular staff – including Verma – of “clandestine” and “criminal” activities in the country. The row between the two countries escalated after then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government of involvement in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023.
Trudeau said: “India has made a monumental mistake in choosing to use their diplomats and organised crime to attack Canadians.”
The Ministry of External Affairs strongly rejected the allegations against its diplomats and said they were “ludicrous and deserve to be treated with contempt”.
At a hastily organised press conference, a day after both countries expelled each other’s diplomats, the head of the Royal Canadian Mounted police (RCMP) said the force had evidence of “agents” acting on behalf of the Indian government engaging in extortion, intimidation, coercion and harassment.
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However, just last week, in a volte face, present RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme said that based on the information before him, there are no longer clandestine activities or transnational repression taking place in Canada that is linked to the Indian government.
‘I sensed there was something wrong’
Recalling the time he had to suddenly pack and move out of Ottawa, after being declared as persona non grata by the Trudeau government in October 2024, Verma said, “I was in Toronto on the weekend just before I left Canada to receive the award for global IIT-ian. I came to the Toronto airport to go back to Ottawa, where I got a phone call from the (Canadian) foreign ministry, saying ‘We want you to come to the Global Affairs office’”.
“The next day, when I went there. I didn’t know what was going to be conveyed. But the room where I used to go, giggle, laugh, and share a cup of coffee, was quite sterilised, stern-looking. I sensed there was something wrong,” he recalled.
“And I was read out a statement by my counterpart, which said, ‘you are a person of interest, along with five others, and you must submit yourself to interrogation’. That’s not normal diplomatic practice,” Verma insisted.
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After he relayed this to New Delhi, Verma said they spoke to the Canadian High Commissioner in Delhi. “‘This was not done, and Mr Verma will not submit. And we will not be able to waive the diplomatic immunity of him and other colleagues’”.
Verma hasn’t been able to come to terms with that phase, even to date. “I could not say goodbye to my friends. I had to pack the entire household. Once you are persona non grata, things can happen. So, I was escorted to Ottawa airport and to the aircraft by the RCMP. In fact, they were always there with me,” he said.
While he said he is not challenging the prerogative of the host government, he regrets that “he was treated as a criminal”. “Till today, which is about 18 months later, they have not been able to prove anything against me. I’m still having that stigma — in the otherwise very successful, 37 years of public service — of being called a criminal”.
“I am the first ever serving Indian ambassador to be declared persona non grata. No other Indian ambassador had been declared persona non grata, not even by Pakistan,” he said.
