- Co-conspirator Gupta was previously extradited to the United States.
- The United States government has reaffirmed its commitment to protecting life: Pannun.
- Vikash Yadav provided Gupta with Pannun's address.
LONDON: The United States has criminally charged a senior official in India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) spy service for leading a foiled assassination plot against Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York City last year. , intensifying attempts to hold the Indian government accountable. for the act of violence and terror on American soil.
Vikash Yadav, an Indian foreign intelligence service officer who was named by federal prosecutors for the first time in Thursday's superseding indictment, is charged with money laundering, conspiracy and leading a murder-for-hire plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American citizen. and Canadian citizen who serves as general counsel of New York-based Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), which has been galvanizing Sikhs around the Khalistan referendum, seeking to create an independent Sikh state called Khalistan in India.
Vikash Yadav's accomplice Nikhil Gupta has already been charged and extradited to the United States. He remains in a Brooklyn jail. Yadav, described by law enforcement officials as the “mastermind” of the plot, remains at large in India and the United States has now formally requested his extradition to the United States to face charges.
The indictment alleged that beginning in May 2023, Yadav, described as an employee of the Indian government at the time, worked alongside others in India and abroad to direct a plot against Pannun.
Reacting to the allegation, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun said: “By charging RAW official Vikash Yadav in the 'murder for hire' plot, the US government has reaffirmed its commitment to the fundamental constitutional duty of protecting life , the freedom and freedom of expression of the American citizen at home. and abroad. RAW officer Yadav is a mid-level soldier who was assigned by NSA Ajit Doval and then RAW chief Samant Goel to assassinate me as part of the Modi regime's policy to violently suppress the referendum campaign. of Khalistan which aims at the secession of Punjab from India through democratic means.
“India's Modi government wants to kill me because, as general counsel of the advocacy group “Sikhs For Justice” (SFJ), I am organizing the vote in Khalistan on the question “Should Indian-ruled Punjab be an independent country?” “
“The attack on my life on American soil is the blatant case of transnational terrorism from India, which has become a challenge to the sovereignty of the United States and a threat to freedom of expression and democracy, unequivocally demonstrating that India believes in using bullets, while pro-Khalistan Sikhs believe in ballots. .
“The continued assassination attempts on my life in the United States and Canada by the Modi regime cannot deter me from organizing the vote for the independence referendum and I am moving forward with organizing the New Zealand Phase of the Khalistan Referendum on the 17th November 2024 in Auckland, New Zealand. .
“Despite India's use of violence against pro-Khalistan Sikhs, SFJ is committed to democratically resolving the dispute over the sovereignty of Indian-occupied Punjab through a referendum. First, by assassinating Nijjar in Canada and then by attempting to assassinate me on American soil, India, under Modi, has extended its policy of violently crushing the Sikh movement for the right to self-determination to foreign soils. “It is the same policy under which India extrajudicially killed pro-Khalistan Sikhs in Punjab with impunity during the 1990s.”
“The Department of Justice will be relentless in holding accountable anyone, regardless of their position or proximity to power, who seeks to harm and silence American citizens,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement Thursday.
“The United States has continued to aggressively investigate the attempted assassination of a U.S. citizen in New York by an Indian intelligence official, and to pressure India to conduct its own credible and transparent investigation,” said Rep. Jim Himes ( Democrat from Connecticut). , speaking generally about American research. “It is absolutely critical that every nation, whether a partner like India or an adversary like Iran, understands that targeting anyone on American soil to carry out extrajudicial killings is unacceptable, and that the United States will catch them and hold them accountable.”
The Justice Department charged Vikash Yadav as some Biden administration officials became frustrated with India's internal investigation, according to reports. The decision to do so now comes after months of frustration among some administration officials with the course of India's own investigation into the assassination attempt. Some officials had privately expressed concern that India's investigation amounted to a cover-up, the Washington Post said.
Gupta met a supposed “hitman” who was actually an undercover officer. Yadav provided Gupta with Pannun's address, phone number and other personal information, and Gupta urged the “hitman” to carry out the assassination as soon as possible, but avoid scheduling it during high-level meetings between US and Indian officials, according to the prosecutors.
Days before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit to the United States, masked gunmen killed Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia, Canada. The next day, Gupta allegedly told the hitman that Nijjar “was also the target” and that “we have so many targets.”
He said there was “no need to wait” to kill Pannun, according to the indictment. “It's a priority now,” he wrote on June 20.
The latest indictment is a “serious example of the rise in deadly conspiracies and other forms of violent transnational repression against diaspora communities in the United States,” according to a statement from Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Department's National Security Division. of Justice.
The Justice Department's most direct public confrontation with New Delhi over the foiled assassination attempt comes on the heels of Canada publicly alleging India's broader campaign of violence against Indian dissidents, including accusations that the killing of a separatist Sikh was led by government officials.
Yadav “used his position of authority and access to confidential information to direct the attempted assassination of an outspoken critic of the Indian government here on American soil,” according to DEA Administrator Anne Milgram.
Canada on Monday expelled Indian diplomats, linking them to the 2023 assassination of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a close ally of Pannun, on Canadian soil.
The US Justice Department says Nijjar and Pannun were associates, and said that Gupta, who was allegedly hired by Yadav, felt that after Nijjar's murder in Canada, there was “no longer a need to wait” to kill Pannun. The plot against Pannun was foiled by American authorities.
This week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government of orchestrating violence in the country.
Trudeau made the charges during an investigation into foreign interference, saying there are “increasingly clear indications” that India violated Canada's sovereignty by attacking Sikh dissidents on its territory.
India's actions, Trudeau said, are a “horrible mistake.”
Trudeau said Nijjar's assassination was part of an even larger Indian operation, in which representatives of the Indian government systematically attacked dissidents inside Canada.
“Violence against Canadians… has been enabled and in many cases directed by the Indian government,” the Canadian prime minister said, citing a national police investigation. He added that New Delhi, when the accusations were brought to its attention, had simply redoubled its attacks “against this government.”
While the Canadian government does not want to start “a fight with a major trading partner,” Trudeau said he would not hesitate to “defend Canadian sovereignty.”
