The United States has charged a former Indian intelligence officer for allegedly directing a failed plot to murder a Sikh separatist and Indian critic in New York City.
The US Justice Department said Vikash Yadav was a former officer in India’s Research and Analysis Wing spy service in the indictment filed on Thursday local time.
Mr Yadav has been charged with murder-for-hire and money laundering offences.
Washington has alleged that Indian agents were behind an attempted assassination plot against dual US-Canadian citizen Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
“The FBI will not tolerate acts of violence or other efforts to retaliate against those residing in the US for exercising their constitutionally protected rights,” FBI director Christopher Wray said in a statement.
The indictment alleged Mr Yadav was working together with other people in India and abroad since May 2023 to plan the assassination of Mr Pannun.
Washington alleges dual US-Canadian citizen Gurpatwant Singh Pannun was targeted by Indian agents. (ABC News: Cameron Schwarz)
It described Mr Pannun as a political activist, a critic of the Indian government and an advocate for a separate homeland for Sikhs.
Sikh separatists have demanded an independent homeland known as Khalistan to be carved out of India.
The Indian government has labelled these separatists as “terrorists” and as threats to its security.
Mr Yadav, 39, was still in India and the United States was expected to seek his extradition, the Washington Post reported citing American officials.
Indictment names another Indian national
The indictment said Mr Yadav had hired an Indian national named Nikhil Gupta.
Mr Gupta had been previously charged with trying to arrange the murder of Mr Pannun under the order of the Indian intelligence official.
The indictment filed in federal court argued Mr Yadav recruited Mr Gupta “to orchestrate the assassination of the victim in the United States”.
Mr Gupta was arrested by Czech authorities after he travelled to Prague from India in June last year.
He was extradited to the US where he pleaded not guilty in court.
Mr Pannun welcomed the indictment of Mr Yadav in a statement on Thursday, describing him as a “mid-tier soldier”.
Mr Pannun alleges Mr Yadav was assigned by Indian government officials as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal to dismantle Sikh separatism.
Not the only case
Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar was killed in Canada last year. (Reuters: Chris Helgren)
An Indian government committee, investigating Indian involvement in the foiled murder plot, met with US officials in Washington earlier this week.
The US State Department did not provide any details, but said India told the US that “the individual who was named in the Justice Department indictment is no longer an employee of the Indian government”.
The US was pushing India to investigate claims around the Indian intelligence official — now as identified as Mr Yadav — behind the assassination plan.
This is not the only case of India’s alleged involvement in targeting Sikh separatists on foreign soil.
Earlier this week, Canada expelled Indian diplomats as part of an escalating dispute over the assassination of a Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada last year.
The US Justice Department says Mr Nijjar and Mr Pannun were associates.
The department argued said Mr Gupta, who was allegedly hired by Mr Yadav, felt that after Nijjar’s killing in Canada, there was “now no need to wait” on killing Pannun.
The accusations have tested Washington and Ottawa’s relations with India, often viewed by the West as a counterbalance to China.
Reuters