The United States government has stated that ‘it expects accountability from India on allegations of the involvement of government officials in the assassination plot of Khalistani leader, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil.’
It comes after India ignored a report that blamed RAW agent Vikram Yadav for his involvement in the assassination of the Khalistani leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
US Authorities on India
On Tuesday, Vedant Patel, the prinicpal Deputy speaker for the US State Department confirmed and stated that ‘there is an ongoing talks between both the nation’s authorities and the US expects accountability from India.’
Vedant Patel stated that ‘We continue to expect accountability from the Government of India based on the results of the Indian enquiry committee’s work, and we are regularly working with them and enquiring for additional updates. We’ll also continue to raise our concerns directly with the Indian Government at senior levels, but beyond that, I’m not going to parse into this further and will defer to the Department of Justice.’
He further stated by addressing the media in the White House briefing that ‘So we continue to expect accountability from the Government of India based on the results of the Indian inquiry committee’s work, and we are regularly working with them and inquiring for additional updates.’
#WATCH | On The Washington Post’s article revealing Indian Prime Minister Modi’s ‘inner circle’, was aware of the assassination plot on a Sikh activist in New York, Principal Deputy Spokesperson, US Department of State, Vedant Patel says, “So we continue to expect accountability… pic.twitter.com/43vw5BIpRY
— ANI (@ANI) April 30, 2024
Pressure on the Indian Authorities
A report added and stated that Vikram Yadav was the key person in the conspiracy to murder and assassinate Panun with some blessings from the former RAW chief Samant Goel who was under ‘extreme pressure to eliminate the alleged threat of Sikh extremists overseas.’
The report further stated that ‘US spy agencies have more tentatively assessed that Modi’s national security adviser, Ajit Doval, was probably aware of RA&W’s plans to kill Sikh activists, but officials emphasised that no smoking gun proof has emerged.’
Randhir Jaiswal, the speaker for the Ministry of External Affairs blamed the report as ‘speculative and irresponsible’ and confirmed that India has previously refused accusations about its involvement in the assassination plot of the Khalistani leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
Randhir Jaiswal stated to the media that ‘unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations on a serious matter‘ were made on the report.
He further added that ‘There is an ongoing investigation of the High Level Committee set up by the government of India to look into the security concerns shared by the US government on networks of organised criminals, terrorists and others. Speculative and irresponsible comments on it are not helpful.’
Who is RAW Agent Vikram Yadav?
A report by the Washington Post stated that the plan to assassinate the Khalistani movement leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun was carried out by the RAW agent who is now identified as Vikram Yadav.
In the previous year, US authorities claimed and stated in their lawsuit that ‘Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national working on the instructions of a Indian national identified as ‘CC-1 ‘was also involved in the plot to kill the Khalistani leader Pannu.’
Gupta is residing in a jail in the Czech Republic where the justice minister is reviewing his appeal by trying to export him to the US.
A report stated that ‘Yadav had been brought into R&AW midcareer from India’s Central Reserve Police Force. It further adds that it may have been for this very reason that the operation may have failed owing to his lack of training and skills required to carry out such an operation, which could go up against US’ counterintelligence capabilities.’
There were several messages sent between Yadav and Gupta where they executed the plan to kill Pannun but during the plan Gupta reached out to a person who he believed to be a drug and weapons dealer. But it turned out to be that he was a informer for the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
Vikram Yadav stated that ‘there would be more jobs after Pannun, including one big target in Canada.’
Who is Gurpatwant Singh Pannun?
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun is one of the main leaders of the Khalistani movement and is a legal advisor and advocate for the Sikh For Justice(SFJ) community which promotes the idea of a separate Sikh state. In 2020, the Ministry of Home Affairs of India declared Pannun a terrorist and also requested the international organization Interpol to issue a Red Notice against him.
