- Co-conspirator Gupta was previously extradited to the United States.
- The US government affirmed its commitment to live protection: Bannon.
- Vikash Yadav provided Gupta with Bannon’s address.
LONDON: The United States has criminally charged a top official with India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) spy agency for directing a failed assassination plot against Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York City last year, escalating attempts to hold the Indian government to account. Due to acts of violence and terrorism on American soil.
Vikash Yadav — an officer in India’s external intelligence service who was named by federal prosecutors for the first time in a superseding indictment on Thursday — is accused of money laundering, conspiracy and leading a murder-for-hire plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American. He is a Canadian citizen who works as general counsel for the New York-based Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) which has been mobilizing Sikhs around the Khalistan referendum and seeking to carve out an independent Sikh state called Khalistan from India.
Nikhil Gupta, Vikash Yadav’s co-conspirator, had previously been charged and extradited to the United States. He remains in a Brooklyn prison. Yadav – described by law enforcement officials as the “mastermind” of the plot – remains at large in India and the US has now formally requested his extradition to the US to face charges.
The indictment alleged that beginning in May 2023, Yadav, described as an employee of the Indian government at the time, worked with others in India and abroad to direct a conspiracy against Bannon.
“By indicting RAW official Vikash Yadav in a ‘kill-for-hire’ conspiracy, the United States government has affirmed its commitment to the fundamental constitutional duty to protect the life, liberty, and freedom of expression of the American citizen at home,” Gurpatwant Singh Pannun said in response to the indictment. And abroad. RAW official Yadav is a middle-class soldier who was appointed 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 Khalistan plebiscite campaign which aims to secede Punjab from India through democratic means.
“The Modi government in India 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 the Indian state of Punjab be an independent state?’”
“The attempt on my life on American soil is a blatant case of transnational Indian terrorism that has become a challenge to America’s sovereignty and a threat to freedom of expression and democracy, proving unequivocally that India believes in using bullets while pro-Khalistan Sikhs believe in ballots. . .
“The ongoing assassination attempts on my life in America and Canada by the Modi regime cannot stop me from organizing the vote for the independence referendum as I move forward with organizing the New Zealand leg of the Khalistan referendum on November 17, 2024 in Auckland, New Zealand.
“Despite India’s use of violence against pro-Khalistan Sikhs, SFJ is committed to the democratic resolution of the dispute over the sovereignty of Indian-occupied Punjab through referendum means. First, by assassinating Nigar in Canada and then by attempting to assassinate me on US soil, India under Modi is extending to foreign lands its policy of violently crushing the Sikh movement for the right to self-determination. 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 not relent in holding accountable anyone – regardless of position or proximity to power – who seeks to harm and silence American citizens,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement on Thursday.
“The United States continued to aggressively investigate the attempted assassination of an American citizen in New York by an Indian intelligence official, and pushed India to conduct its own credible and transparent investigation,” said Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.). , speaks in general terms about the American investigation. “It is extremely important that every country, whether a partner like India or an adversary like Iran, understands that targeting anyone on US soil for extrajudicial killings is unacceptable, and the United States will catch them and hold them accountable.”
The Department of Justice has reportedly charged Vikash Yadav, with some Biden administration officials frustrated with India’s internal investigation. The decision to do so now comes after months of frustration among some administration officials over the course of India’s investigation into the attempted murder. The Washington Post said some officials privately expressed concerns that the Indian investigation would amount to a whitewash.
Gupta was introduced to an alleged “hitman” who was actually an undercover officer. Yadav provided Gupta with Bannon’s address, phone number and other personal information, and Gupta urged the “hitman” to carry out the killing as soon as possible but avoid timing the killing during high-level meetings between American and Indian officials, according to prosecutors.
Days before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the United States, masked gunmen killed Hardeep Singh Nigar outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia, Canada. The next day, Gupta allegedly told the killer that Carpenter “was the target too” and “we have a lot of targets.”
He said there was “no need to wait” to kill Bannon, according to the indictment. “It’s a priority now,” he wrote on June 20.
The latest indictment is a “dangerous example of the increase in lethal planning and other forms of transnational violent repression targeting diaspora communities in the United States,” according to a statement from Assistant Attorney General Matthew J. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
The most direct public confrontation between the Justice Department and New Delhi over the failed assassination attempt comes on the heels of Canada publicly accusing India of India’s broader campaign of violence against Indian dissidents, including allegations that the killing of a Sikh separatist was directed by government officials.
Yadav “used his position of power and access to classified information to direct an assassination attempt on an outspoken critic of the Indian government here on American soil,” according to DEA Director Anne Milgram.
On Monday, Canada expelled Indian diplomats, linking them to the 2023 killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nigar, a close ally of Bannon, on Canadian soil.
The US Justice Department says Najjar and Bannon were accomplices, and said Gupta, who was allegedly appointed by Yadav, felt that after Najjar was killed in Canada, there was “no longer any need to wait” to kill Bannon. The US authorities foiled the plot against Bannon.
This week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government of orchestrating violence in the country.
Trudeau made the accusations during an investigation into foreign interference, saying there were “more clear indications” that India violated Canada’s sovereignty by targeting Sikh dissidents on its territory.
Trudeau said India’s actions are a “terrible mistake.”
Trudeau said Najjar’s killing was part of a broader Indian operation, in which representatives of the Indian government systematically targeted dissidents within Canada.
“Violence against Canadians has been enabled by, and in many cases at the direction of, the Indian government,” the Canadian Prime Minister said, citing national police investigations. He added that when New Delhi made these accusations, it simply doubled its “attacks against this government.”
While the Canadian government does not want to pick a “battle with an important trading partner,” Trudeau said he will not hesitate when he “defends Canadian sovereignty.”