A murder that brought Canada, India on collision course

In a tit-for-tat action, New Delhi on September 19 announced expulsion of a Canadian diplomat hours after Ottawa asked an Indian official to leave that country, citing a “potential” Indian link to the killing of a Khalistani separatist leader in June.

The Canadian foreign minister’s office identified the expelled Indian diplomat as Pavan Kumar Rai, believed to be the head of India’s external intelligence agency — the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) — in Canada, the newspaper Toronto Star reported.