India’s government is denying that it works with mobsters to target Sikh separatists in Canada as alleged publicly this week by Canadian officials in an escalating diplomatic dispute

A furious diplomatic row between India and Canada has pushed an otherwise fringe separatist campaign for an independent Sikh homeland in Punjab into the international spotlight.

As India doubles down on rejecting the claim it is behind widespread crimes in Canada, its foreign ministry is accusing Ottawa of trying to smear New Delhi.The federal government ordered India's top envoy to leave the country on Monday after the RCMP said it had credible evidence that Indian agents played a role in extortion,