NEW DELHI - India on Monday rejected Canada's claims about the involvement of senior Indian diplomats in a murder investigation in Canada, saying that these activities "serve the political agenda of the current regime."

On Sunday, the Indian government received a diplomatic communication from Canada suggesting that the Indian high commissioner and other diplomats are "persons of interest" in a matter related to a Canadian investigation.

"The government of India strongly rejects these preposterous imputations and ascribes them to the political agenda of the (Justin) Trudeau government that is centered around vote bank politics," India's foreign ministry said in a statement.

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"Since Prime Minister Trudeau made certain allegations in September 2023, the Canadian government has not shared a shred of evidence with the government of India, despite many requests from our side," the ministry added, calling the Canadian move "a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains."

New Delhi and Ottawa were locked in a diplomatic row in September 2023, after Trudeau alleged that Indian agents played a role in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader, near Vancouver in June. India outrightly denied the allegations and described them as "absurd and motivated."

It was followed by tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions between the two sides.

India's foreign ministry said high commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma is India's seniormost serving diplomat with a distinguished career spanning 36 years.

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"He has been ambassador in Japan and Sudan, while also serving in Italy, Turkiye, Vietnam and China. The aspersions cast on him by the government of Canada are ludicrous and deserve to be treated with contempt," the ministry said.

A month after Canada's allegation, the US Justice Department filed an indictment against an Indian national for his alleged involvement in a foiled plot to assassinate a US citizen, a Sikh separatist leader, identified by media as Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

India's foreign ministry then said it had set up a high-level committee to look into the security concerns raised by the US side.