New Delhi/toronto, March 3 -- India on Monday rejected a Canadian media report linking two Indian officials to the 2023 killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar and called for such sensitive matters to be handled through "legal processes without public commentary". The Globe and Mail, citing two unidentified sources, one in national security and the other in law enforcement, reported on Sunday that two officials who were earlier posted in India's consulate general in Vancouver were allegedly involved in the killing of Nijjar in June 2023. P Kumaran, secretary (East) in the external affairs ministry, told a media briefing that India "categorically rejects allegations of involvement in trans-national violence or organised crime". Such claims are "baseless, politically motivated and unsupported by credible evidence despite repeated requests", Kumaran said. "India believes that concerns of this nature must be addressed through credible law enforcement and judicial processes and not through public or politicised narratives," he added. Nijjar was killed outside a gurdwara in Surrey city on June 18, 2023. The criminal investigation in the case of Nijjar is proceeding according to established legal procedures, and proceedings have entered the pre-trial phase, following which it will move to the full jury trial stage, Kumaran said. "Canadians have an established legal procedure and it will proceed as per that procedure. India consistently maintained its commitment to the judicial process." "We believe that sensitive matters under judicial considerations are best allowed to proceed through established legal processes without public commentary," he added. The Globe and Mail report named former visa officer Kanwaljit Singh, who gathered information about Nijjar from the diaspora by using his role to facilitate the process. The report said he was monitored by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service as an undercover agent of the Research and Analysis Wing. The other official named in the report was Manish, who was the consul general in Vancouver and is now the envoy to Cyprus. Singh was among six Indian officials and diplomats expelled by Canada in October 2024 for alleged involvement in violence. The information gathered by the two officials was allegedly transmitted to former RAW operative Vikash Yadav,, and he communicated it to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang which allegedly organised the killing, the report said. Yadav, a former CRPF officer deputed to the external intelligence agency, was removed from his post after the US department of justice named him in the case against Indian national Nikhil Gupta, who recently pled guilty to charges related to a plot to kill Sikhs for Justice leader Gurpatwant Pannun in New York. Both Nijjar and Pannun have been designated as terrorists by India. Pannun is the organiser of the so-called Khalistan Referendum and Nijjar was, at the time of his death, its Canadian coordinator....