New Delhi: The US Justice Department Thursday announced it had filed murder-for-hire and money-laundering charges against former Indian officer Vikash Yadav for his alleged role in directing a foiled assassination attempt on Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US and Canadian citizen living in New York.
The unsealing of a superseding indictment by the US Justice Department revealed details of how the government official had allegedly masterminded the plot to murder Pannun, and recruited another Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta to hire the actual killer.
In November 2023, an indictment filed with a district court in New York first revealed allegations of a plot to murder India-designated terrorist Pannun by an Indian government official in cahoots with Nikhil Gupta. Pannun is the head of Sikhs For Justice, an organisation banned by India for promoting Sikh separatism in the country.
Gupta was arrested by Czech authorities and extradited to the US from there earlier this year. He is awaiting trial in US courts.
Meanwhile, Yadav has been dismissed from service as confirmed by the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday.
In the aftermath of the initial US allegations, which identified Yadav as ‘CC-1’, New Delhi set up a high-level inquiry committee, and two members of the panel were in America earlier this week as part of India’s ongoing probe into the country’s charges.
The Washington Post had first revealed that the official was “Vikram Yadav”, a mid-level CRPF officer seconded to the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW). But the new unsealed indictment identifies him as Vikash Yadav.
Yadav, according to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is a 39-year-old field agent in the R&AW. He allegedly directed the plot to assassinate Pannun from India in May 2023, according to the new indictment.
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‘Plot began May 2023’
According to the new indictment, Yadav began working with Nikhil Gupta in the plot to allegedly assassinate Pannun from the beginning of May 2023. At the time, Yadav was described as a “senior field officer” deputed to the R&AW from the CRPF, and was an “Assistant Commandant”.
The former R&AW agent hired Gupta on or around 6 May 2023. Subsequently, Gupta reached out to a contact in the US, who turned out to be a confidential source (CS) working with American law enforcement agencies.
The CS then introduced Gupta to the purported hitman, another undercover officer. Yadav agreed with the deal struck by Gupta to pay $100,000 for murdering Pannun, and on 9 June 2023, the Indian official through an associate arranged for $15,000 in cash as advance to be paid to the “hitman”, the indictment says.
Around 1 June 2023, Yadav also provided Gupta with information about Pannun, including house addresses, phone numbers and his day-to-day activities. Gupta then shared these details with the purported hitman.
Gupta urged for the hit to take place as soon as possible, but not around the time of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official state visit from 21-23 June, 2023.
Murder plan gains pace after Nijjar killing
Just before Modi was to arrive in the US, Canadian citizen and Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was gunned down outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia on 18 June.
Hours later, Yadav sent Gupta a video clip that purportedly showed his dead body slumped in his vehicle, the indictment noted.
The day after, Gupta informed the undercover officer that the Canadian citizen had also been a target and that with his death, there was no need to delay Pannun’s murder. Gupta told the purported hitman that there were “many targets”.
On 25 June, 2023, the undercover officer sent Gupta a series of photos about the vicinity of Pannun’s house, which was then forwarded to Yadav. The Indian official responded that he finally believed the hitman was “quite serious now” about the ultimately-foiled murder.
About five days later, Gupta left India for the Czech Republic, where he was arrested on 30 June, 2023, at the request of US authorities. He was subsequently extradited to the US on 14 June this year.
On 18 November, 2023, India instituted a high-level inquiry committee to look into the evidence shared by the US over the thwarted plot.
The MEA revealed on 22 November it had “received inputs” from the US, before announcing that the inquiry committee had been formed.
According to media reports, the US government first raised the Pannun plot in or around August 2023 with Ajit Doval, the Indian national security adviser (NSA). The issue was raised with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar by his American counterpart Antony Blinken in September 2023, as per reports.
On 15 October this year, two members of the inquiry committee interacted with US officials, while visiting the country to continue its investigations into the charges. Days later, the superseding indictment on Yadav was released to the public.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)