New Delhi accuses Ottawa of being "obsessed" with its investigation into India's involvement in the assassination of a Sikh leader

India's foreign minister said Ottawa was showing an "obsession" with its investigation into possible Indian involvement in the assassination of a Sikh leader in western Canada, after the arrest on Friday of three men suspected of involvement in the killing.

On Friday, Canadian police arrested three Indian nationals in their twenties suspected of being part of a team that assassinated Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nigar in Vancouver last year.

Canadian security forces confirmed that they were investigating "possible links to the Indian government.

The Press Trust of India news agency quoted Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar on Saturday as saying, "Blaming India is a political obsession in Canada.

Nigar immigrated to Canada in 1997 and became a Canadian citizen in 2015. He is an advocate of establishing a Sikh state separate from India under the name "Khalistan."

He was wanted by Indian authorities on charges of terrorism and conspiracy to murder.

The case plunged Canada and India into a major diplomatic crisis last fall after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested the Indian government was involved in the assassination. New Delhi called the allegations "ridiculous.

A month later, the Canadian government was forced to return dozens of its diplomats to India after New Delhi threatened to revoke their diplomatic immunity.

Thousands of people were killed in the 1980s during a separatist rebellion to create a Sikh homeland called "Khalistan," which was severely repressed by Indian forces.

The movement's momentum has waned in Indian territory, but it enjoys support from a minority of Sikhs in the diaspora, particularly in Canada, which is home to the world's largest Sikh community outside India, numbering 770,000.

Jaishankar explained that New Delhi is trying to persuade Ottawa not to grant visas or any political legitimacy to Sikh separatists because they "create problems for (Canada), for us and also for our diplomatic relations.

He added that Canada "is not sharing evidence with us in some cases and the police services are not cooperating with us.