British Columbia Premier David Eby says provincial officials have received no evidence linking the Indian government to a series of extortion incidents targeting members of the South Asian community in the Lower Mainland.
Speaking Tuesday in an interview on CTV’s Power Play program, Eby addressed growing speculation around possible foreign involvement in the cases, which have raised alarm among business owners and community leaders across Metro Vancouver.
“I want to be clear: At this point, we do not have any information,” Eby said during the CTV program. “Police may. I’m not part of the investigation the information they have, but we don’t have any information that the Indian government is involved in this.”
Extortion violence becomes top public safety issue
Authorities have reported a surge in extortion-related threats and violent incidents targeting South Asian businesses in the Lower Mainland in recent months. Eby described the pattern as the province’s “No. 1 public safety issue.”
During the interview, host Vassy Kapelos asked whether the premier had been briefed about any potential connections between the crimes and the Indian government. Eby said provincial officials have not received information suggesting such involvement.
“For what we have information for at the political level, at least in British Columbia, we don’t have information about the Indian government’s involvement in extortion,” Eby said.
He added that investigators have received allegations linking some of the activity to organized crime.
“We have received allegations that the Bishnoi Gang was involved in some of this,” he said.
Eby also referenced the federal government’s designation of the Bishnoi Gang as a terrorist criminal organization operating primarily out of India.
His remarks come amid broader diplomatic tensions between Canada and India. In October 2024, the RCMP accused Indian diplomats and consular officials in Canada of participating in clandestine operations tied to serious criminal activities, including homicides and extortion.
The controversy escalated in 2023 when former prime minister Justin Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” linking agents of the Indian government to the killing of Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia. India has denied the accusations.
Questions about India’s role in foreign interference resurfaced again last week when senior federal officials suggested to reporters that India was no longer actively interfering in Canada.
PM Mark Carney avoided directly answering questions about reporting by The Globe and Mail, suggesting evidence connected officials at India’s Vancouver consulate to Nijjar’s killing.
Meanwhile, India’s High Commissioner to Canada, Dinesh Patnaik, rejected the allegations entirely.
“It never happened,” Dinesh K. Patnaik told journalists when asked repeatedly about foreign interference during the sidelines of Carney’s visit to India on Saturday.
Police investigations into the extortion cases remain ongoing as authorities work to determine whether organized crime networks or other actors are responsible for the threats and violence.
