Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi says his government views the South American country of Guyana as key to its energy security.

Visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday his country is interested in oil from Guyana, the small South American nation with the world's highest per capita crude reserves.

Ottawa says it has evidence linking Indian government agents to the 2023 murder of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. This week, the Globe and Mail newspaper said Canadian security agencies believed Modi knew about the violent plots and said Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and national security adviser Ajit Doval were also in the loop.

A senior official says the Canadian government is not aware of any evidence linking Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to alleged criminal activity perpetrated by Indian agents on Canadian soil.

The clarification came a day after India trashed as a “smear campaign” The Globe and Mail report claiming Modi was aware of the alleged plot to kill Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar