- Hindustan Times
Ottawa – Justin Trudeau has denied claims he traveled to India for G20 on a plane "full of cocaine" and that he didn't leave his hotel room for two days.
“This (is) absolutely false and a troubling example of how disinformation can make its way into media reporting,” Trudeau's office said in a statement on Wednesday.
The claim, which has been widely reported in the Indian media, comes amid a fierce diplomatic spat between the two countries.
Canada and India have both ejected one of each other’s senior diplomats after Mr Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” of Indian state involvement in the death of a Sikh leader in Canada.
PM Kanada Justin Trudeau.
- ANTARA/REUTERS/Jennifer Gauthier/tm
Former Indian ambassador to Sudan Deepak Vohra said on Monday there were “credible rumours” that “sniffer dogs found cocaine on his plane” and that Trudeau didn’t come out of his room for two days.
“Does he have a brain? He is a tiny infant,” responded Mr. Vohra, adding that when his wife spotted Mr Trudeau at Delhi airport, he looked “troubled”.
“...Can’t say what’s going on in his head but I understand his behaviour shows he was freaked out,” he said. His claims were not questioned by the anchor.
"He has become lonely. He is now trying to show that he is a Canadian Rambo and nothing can go wrong in his presence. India has done the right thing by suspending visa services in Canada," he said.
The comments came during one of the worst spells for diplomatic relations between India and Canada in decades following the killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
The crisis between New Delhi and Ottawa unfolded last week after prime minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian state of involvement in the killing of the Canadian national.
Nijjar was murdered in Vancouver on 18 June by two masked men, who fired an estimated 30 to 50 shots at him.
Canadian officials say they have human and signals intelligence backing up their claims regarding the killing, including communications involving Indian officials in Canada.
