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“Is Mr. Sarai part of a faction in India?” a reporter demanded.

“I have no knowledge of Mr. Sarai’s circumstances,” Goodale responded.

But then a reporter near the back of the crowd noticed someone else had just emerged from a different committee room down the hall, and was trying to slip by to the elevator.

“Guys, guys …” she said, realizing that in a spectacular coincidence, it was Sarai himself, who has been trying to avoid media since the scandal broke.

The reporters and TV crews surged from Goodale to Sarai, causing a Conservative MP caught in the middle to emit a brief howl of panic.

“Are you part of these rogue elements from the (Indian) government?” a reporter shouted at Sarai.

“No,” he said, pushing his way through the crowd and toward the elevators.

Sarai refused to answer any other questions, then got into the waiting elevator with Goodale. As the door closed, reporters shook their heads in disbelief.

The Liberals have been under heavy fire over comments to media by a top security official, who said it was suspicious Atwal had been allowed to enter India at all, given his past criminal conviction for attempting to kill an Indian cabinet minister. The official suggested someone in the Indian intelligence service may have been looking to shame Canada for being soft on Khalistani radicals. (The National Post’s John Ivison was among those who spoke to the official on background — meaning they agreed to identify the person as a senior government security source, but not identify them by name.)