India's envoy to Canada, who is being expelled over what Ottawa says are links to the murder of a Sikh leader, insisted in an interview he was innocent and said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had wrecked bilateral political ties,

Canada and India have each expelled six diplomats in tit-for-tat moves as part of an escalating dispute over the June 2023 assassination of a Sikh activist in Canada.

The Canadian police said the Indian government had orchestrated homicides and extortion in Canada to intimidate Sikh separatists. India, in return, kicked out Canadian diplomats.

Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma has accused Canada of citing hearsay, instead of corroborating evidence.

India's high commissioner to Canada has denied any involvement in the murder of a Canadian Sikh leader who was killed in British Columbia last year even though the Canadian government has named him as a person of interest in the assassination.