India has ordered Canada to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats in the country, as the row between the two nations worsens.
An Indian official familiar with the matter revealed this on Tuesday, according to Los Angeles Times.
India and Canada are at loggerheads over the murder of a Canadian Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in suburban Vancouver.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak publicly ahead of public reaction from the Canadian government later Tuesday.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stood up in Parliament last week and said there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the slaying of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a 45-year-old Sikh leader who was killed by masked gunmen in June in Surrey, outside Vancouver.
For years, India has accused Nijjar, a Canadian citizen born in India, of having links to terrorism, an allegation Nijjar denied.
Arranging the killing of a Canadian citizen in Canada, home to nearly 2 million people of Indian descent, would be unprecedented.
India has accused Canada for years of giving free rein to Sikh separatists, including Nijjar.
India has also cancelled visas for Canadians. Canada has not retaliated for that. India also previously expelled a senior Canadian diplomat after Canada expelled a senior Indian diplomat.
