A suspected Indian government agent had Jagmeet Singh under close surveillance, prompting the RCMP to place the New Democratic Party leader in police protection 18 months ago, sources have told Global News.

The agent, who is allegedly tied to activities directed by the Indian government, had access to intimate knowledge of Singh’s daily routines, travel and family, according to the sources familiar with the matter.

He was also described by the sources as associated with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which the Indian government has been accused of using to commit violence in Canada.

Police notified Singh about a credible risk to his life in late 2023 and put tight security around him and his homes. Singh revealed during the 2025 federal election that he had been under police protection.

But no details of the investigation have been publicly disclosed until now, and Singh has said the RCMP never told him who was behind the threat, although “the implication was a foreign government.”

Police responded to the threat at the time and Singh is no longer considered to be in imminent danger. Singh lost his seat in the 2025 federal election and has stepped down as NDP leader.

The allegation that a suspected Indian agent was gathering information about the day-to-day movements of a federal party leader will likely raise new questions about foreign interference.

Singh did not respond to requests for comment through an intermediary. Global News is not identifying the multiple sources with knowledge of the investigation who spoke on condition they would not be named.

The Indian High Commission in Ottawa has not responded to questions about the allegations. The RCMP said it does not discuss “protective measures, nor confirm individuals who may be designated to receive protection.”

“The security environment in which public figures operate is constantly evolving, and the RCMP takes all threats against public officials seriously,” spokesperson Marie-Eve Breton said on Wednesday.

The reasons police became concerned about Singh’s safety a year-and-a-half ago have emerged as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Canada on the weekend.

With President Donald Trump in the White House, Prime Minister Mark Carney has said he wants to diversify Canada’s trading relationships and has invited Modi to the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alta.

But the decision has faced criticism because New Delhi is still not cooperating with RCMP investigations into India’s suspected involvement in the 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, among other violent crimes.

RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme held a news conference last October to announce that investigators had found evidence linking “agents of the government of India to homicides and violent acts” across the country.

Police said India was collecting information on potential victims in Canada and using the Lawrence Bishnoi crime group, and similar drug and extortion outfits, to target them.

They also said “well over a dozen credible and imminent threats to life” had led them to issue warnings to members of the South Asian community, specifically those active in the pro-Khalistan movement.

Singh told reporters in April that police had advised him in the winter of 2023 that his life could be in danger. They did not tell him who was behind the threat but he said the implication was that it was a foreign government.

He said he stayed in his basement, avoided windows and considered quitting politics over fears about his family’s safety. He decided to carry on but was forced to lead the NDP for a period under police protection.

2:28
Evidence links violent crimes in Canada to Indian government

A lawyer who became federal NDP leader in 2017, Singh has angered India by pressing the Canadian government to take a harder line against Modi’s government over its problematic human rights record.

Indian press reports have wrongly labelled Singh a supporter of anti-India “terrorists” and reported that the intelligence agency that works for Modi’s office had prepared dossiers on him.

Under Modi, New Delhi has amped up its claims that Canada has not done enough to counter the Khalistan movement that seeks independence for India’s Sikh-majority Punjab.

It has also meddled in all levels of Canadian politics and now ranks as the “second most active country engaging in electoral foreign interference in Canada,” according to the Hogue Commission.

With the murder of Nijjar, however, India has allegedly taken its grievances against Canada to another level. A Sikh temple leader, Nijjar was leading a referendum campaign on Khalistan independence when he was gunned down.

Then-prime minister Justin Trudeau told the House of Commons in September 2023 that investigators were probing the involvement of Indian government agents.

Police believe India used gang members to carry out the killing. Sources have told Global News that Modi’s right-hand man Amit Shah allegedly approved the operation. India has denied that.

Canada later expelled six Indian diplomats and consular officials for allegedly collecting information on Canadians of Indian descent that was fed back to intelligence officers in New Delhi and used to direct attacks.

The alleged surveillance of Singh is not unprecedented. Before Nijjar was killed, he told a close friend that a tracking device had been found on his pickup truck when he was having it serviced.

“He told me this personally,” said Moninder Singh, the spokesperson for the Sikh Federation who is also among those police have warned about threats to their lives.

Nijjar was shot dead inside the same vehicle outside Surrey’s Guru Nanak Sikh Temple. Moninder Singh said he did not know whether agents had followed him too.

“I’ve had multiple warnings but have never been told or known if I was under surveillance, but I would think I would be and do live my life as though I am,” he said.

“There’s no other way.”

As someone living under threat, he said Modi’s visit to Canada had added “insult to injury.”

After Modi said he would attend the G7, Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal said his constituents had told him that inviting the Indian prime minster was sending the wrong message.

Carney has said that Modi agreed to “continued law enforcement dialogue and discussions addressing security concerns” and that countering foreign interference was high on the summit agenda.

2:24
Carney lays out G7 priorities, faces criticism over Modi invite

But a Canadian Sikh coalition wrote to MPs this week to voice their “anger and sense of betrayal” over Carney’s decision to extend an invitation to the leader of a government that has not yet been held to account for Nijjar’s killing.

“His death was not an isolated act but part of a coordinated campaign of transnational repression that continues to violate Canadian sovereignty to this day,” the four Sikh organizations wrote.

“To extend an invitation to the architect of these policies who proudly boasts that India ‘enters the homes of its enemies and kills them,’ without any public commitment to justice or accountability, undermines the very principles Canada claims to uphold.”

The letter was signed by the leaders of the World Sikh Organization of Canada, Sikh Federation of B.C., Ontario Gurdwara’s Committee and Quebec Sikh Council. The groups are holding a news conference on Parliament Hill on Thursday.

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca