Brampton, Canada: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday called Canadian officials 'criminals' for leaking information about India-designated pro-Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar to media. Indo-Canadian ties are currently under strain due to Trudeau's unsubstantiated allegations about India having been involved in Nijjar's murder in Canada.

"We have seen, unfortunately, that criminals leaking top-secret information to the media have consistently gotten those stories wrong,” Trudeau said. He was speaking at a press conference in Brampton on Friday, November 22 (local time).

"That's why we had a national enquiry into foreign interference, which has highlighted that criminals leaking information to media outlets are unreliable on top of being criminals,"

Major news media outlets have reported in recent past that information about Nijjar murder probe was leaked to them by Canadian officials. A prominent news outlet in Canada said earlier this week that Indian PM Narendra Modi knew of plot to kill Nijjar.

The Canadian government earlier this week however, refuted the claims made by the media outlet.

“The Government of Canada has not stated, nor is it aware of the evidence, linking Prime Minister Modi, Minister Jaishankar, or NSA Doval to the serious criminal activity within Canada. Any suggestion to the contrary is both speculative and inaccurate,” said Nathalie Drouin, Trudeau's intelligence adviser.

Relations between India and Canada, the two nation which traditionally enjoyed close ties, have taken nosedive after Trudeau's allegations of Indian 'agents' being involved in the murder of Nijjar. Both countries have expelled several of each other's diplomats in past year. And there are no immediate signs that tie would be normalized.

India has been alleging for years that Canadian authorities were not hard enough on pro-Khalistan elements in Canada. The Khalistanis have become increasingly active since Trudeau's overt allegations last year. India has asked for evidence but Canada has not provided any s far.