The United States has charged a former Indian intelligence officer for allegedly directing a foiled plot to assassinate an American citizen who advocates for Khalistan - an independent Sikh state that would be carved out of India.
The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said on Thursday that it had registered "murder-for-hire and money laundering charges" against Vikash Yadav for trying to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. The indictment of Yadav, for the first time, implicates the Indian government directly in the attempted assassination of a dissident.
The Indian government has said it is co-operating with the ongoing investigation in the US. It has not responded to the specific charges against Mr Yadav yet.
The development comes after Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national also charged in the case, was extradited to the US from a prison in Prague earlier this year.
The FBI has accused Indian agents of involvement in an assassination attempt on Pannun, a dual US-Canadian citizen, saying Pannun was targeted for exercising his "First Amendment rights" to free speech.
“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," said FBI director Christopher Wray in a statement.
India has labelled Pannun a terrorist, though he denies the allegation, claiming to be an activist advocating for Khalistan.
According to the US indictment, Yadav was the mastermind behind the plot to murder Pannun and he recruited Gupta in May 2023 to orchestrate the assassination in exchange for getting a case against him in India dismissed.
"In or about June 2023, in furtherance of the assassination plot, Yadav provided Gupta with personal information about the victim, including the victim’s home address in New York City, phone numbers associated with the victim, and details about the victim’s day-to-day conduct," the indictment states.
On Thursday, India's foreign ministry spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, stated that the individual referred to as "CC-1" in the US Justice Department's indictment is no longer employed by the Indian government.
However, he did not provide a specific name, leaving it unclear whether he was referring to Yadav, who is widely speculated to be the same person.
In response to Yadav's indictment, Pannun said the attempt on his life on American soil was a "blatant case of India's transnational terrorism, which has become a challenge to America's sovereignty and threat to freedom of speech and democracy."
Yadav's indictment comes days after the Canadian police and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that Indian agents were involved in the killing of Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, setting off a new row that led to both countries expelling diplomats.
India has rejected the allegations as "preposterous", accusing Trudeau of pandering to Canada’s large Sikh community for political gain.
Earlier this week, the US State Department urged India to co-operate in Canada's investigation.
