Ex-Indian intelligence officer charged in US in foiled murder plot

Former Indian government employee Vikash Yadav has been charged with orchestrating a foiled plot to assassinate American Canadian, Sikh separatist and Indian government critic Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

Yadav, described as a former officer in India’s Research and Analysis Wing spy service, has been charged with “murder-for-hire and money laundering” by the District of New York’s US Attorney’s Office. 

He faces charges along with co-conspirator Nikhil Gupta, who “was previously charged and extradited to the U.S. in June,” according to ABC News. 

Yadav remains at large.

From abroad, Yadav allegedly recruited Gupta and directed the plot to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American leader of New York-based Sikhs for Justice advocating for a sovereign Sikh state. New Delhi has accused Pannun of being “involved in terrorism” in the past. 

Gupta allegedly hired a hitman for $100,000 to execute Pannun, but the hitman turned out to be an undercover agent with the US Drug Enforcement Administration. 

“DEA did not relent, and today’s indictment names Vikash Yadav as that alleged mastermind,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram, “We charge that Yadav, an employee of the Indian government, 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 U.S. soil.”

The attempt ensued a day after Pannun’s associate, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was murdered outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia, Canada, on June 18, 2023.

Diplomatic relations between India and Canada have since been fractured. 

“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,” said Christopher Wray, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). “We are committed to working with our partners to detect, disrupt, and hold accountable foreign nationals or others who seek to engage in such acts of transnational repression.”

An Indian Enquiry Committee met with US officials in Washington last week after U.S. measures for quick accountability. 

“We’ve communicated really clearly that the U.S. government isn’t going to feel fully satisfied until we see that meaningful accountability takes place,” said an anonymous U.S. official to Reuters. “We have been emphasizing that we hope that India will move as quickly as possible through their investigative process.”

This comes after India rejected Canada’s accusation of government involvement in the murder of Nijjar with Sanjay Kumar Verma, India’s high commissioner to Canada, claiming it was “politically motivated.”

The indictment has strained diplomatic ties between the U.S. and India, one that Reuters reports as a “potential counterbalance to China’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific.”

“India remains an incredibly important and valuable strategic partner,” the U.S. official said. “We also have to have trust and an ability to work through very difficult issues like this transparently,” in a statement to Reuters. 

India has long viewed Sikh separatism as a threat to India’s sovereignty, asking countries with surmounting Sikh populations to stifle the movement. Before the charges were announced Thursday morning, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) asked Washington to take “urgent action” to address the “threat of transnational aggression,” reports Al Jazeera.