An Indian citizen, Vikash Yadav, has been charged with directing a plot to murder pro-Khalistan and Sikhs for Justince (SFJ) chief, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, in New York last year. Mr Pannun is an India-designated terrorist who is a U.S. citizen. Mr Yadav was identified thus far as “ CC-1” in the original indictment related to the murder-for-hire plot, filed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) in 2023.
Another Indian, Nikhil Gupta, was charged last year and is currently being detained in Brooklyn, following his arrest in the Czech Republic last year. India-based Mr. Yadav, it is alleged, had recruited Mr. Gupta to find a hitman and have Mr. Pannun killed.
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The charges against Mr. Yadav were announced on Thursday, by the DoJ, two days after an Indian investigating team visited Washington D.C. State Department Spokesperson Matt Miller said the Indian team confirmed that Mr. Yadav was “no longer” employed by the Indian government.
Mr. Yadav was charged in a second superseding indictment unsealed on Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The 18-page second indictment includes a picture of Mr. Yadav in Army fatigues.
Mr Yadav was “employed by the Government of India’s Cabinet Secretariat, which houses India’s foreign intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing” , during the period relevant to the case, as per the DoJ.
“The Justice Department will be relentless in holding accountable any person — regardless of their position or proximity to power — who seeks to harm and silence American citizens,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.
“The FBI will not tolerate acts of violence or other efforts to retaliate against those residing in the U.S. for exercising their constitutionally protected rights,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said.
“Today’s charges are a grave example of the increase in lethal plotting and other forms of violent transnational repression targeting diaspora communities in the United States,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said, as he warned “ governments around the world” who pay be plotting such acts that the U.S. would disrupt them and hold the perpetrators accountable.
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The announcement comes at the end of a week that saw India-Canada ties nose-dive over Ottawa’s allegations that Indian government agents were behind acts of violence including homicides and extortion across Canada. Central to the trouble between India and Canada was the slaying of a Khalistani separatist , Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in June 2023 in Canada. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said Canada had intelligence that Indian government agents were behind the killing. India has continued to strongly reject the Canadian accusations.
Published – October 18, 2024 06:43 am IST
