New Delhi: India has informed the US that it has dismissed ‘CC1’—a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officer on deputation to Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW)— from government service, following its investigation into the alleged plot to assassinate Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American national, on US soil in June 2023.
While the details of his dismissal from R&AW and his parent organisation CRPF had been given to the US earlier in back-channel talks, the information was formally conveyed by an Indian investigation team during their visit to the US this week.
“So we…the meeting that occurred yesterday, we updated—“we” being the US government broadly—updated members of the Committee of Inquiry about the investigation that the United States has been conducting. We’ve received an update from them on the investigation that they have been conducting. It was a productive meeting, and I will leave it at that,” US State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller said in a media briefing.
Asked if India had informed what action has been taken against CC1, who American media reports have identified as Vikram Yadav, he said, “They did inform us that the individual, who was named in the Justice Department indictment, is no longer an employee of the Indian Government.”
Responding to another question on whether the US was satisfied, he said, “We are satisfied with the cooperation. It continues to be an ongoing process. We continue to work with them on that, but we do appreciate the cooperation, and we appreciate them updating us on their investigation as we update them on ours.”
In a separate briefing on 15 October by White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby, the US said both countries are taking the matter “seriously”.
“We have expressed our deep concerns about this to our Indian counterparts. They have expressed to us that they are taking it seriously. The fact that they sent an inquiry committee here, I think, demonstrates that they are taking this seriously. It is something they absolutely need to take seriously,” he had said.
Government sources told ThePrint that immediately after his name and alleged action was shared by the US authorities, CC1 was put under suspension by the R&AW and was sent back to his parent organisation, CRPF, following what was termed as an internal probe into violations of internal code.
He has been dismissed from the CRPF as well and is now a subject of an enquiry being conducted by a high-level committee formed by India to look into the allegations, sources said.
On the question of whether the officer has been arrested or detained, sources said that no such step has been taken so far, but he remains a subject of enquiry by the concerned authorities and is under “close watch”.
India had sent a probe team to the US to speak to American security officials and gather more information on the case. India is understood to have told the US that there was no official sanction for any kind of kill plot on American soil and CC1 had gone “rogue”.
An Indian national, Nikhil Gupta, who was allegedly recruited by CC1 or Yadav, was arrested in Prague earlier this year and extradited to the US, where he is expected to face trial soon.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has said in its indictment that the conspiracy to assassinate Pannun was foiled, when the hired assassin turned out to be an undercover Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent in America. The DOJ has opted not to bring charges against Yadav for now.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)