New Delhi: The US Department of Justice (DOJ) have filed charges against former Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) field agent Vikash Yadav—who has been dismissed from service—for being the alleged “mastermind” in the assassination plot of Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has also issued a ‘wanted’ poster with three images of him. According to the FBI, a federal warrant of arrest against him was issued on 10 October.
Indian officials remain mum on whether the US has sought Yadav’s extradition. They have said that Yadav is now no longer a government employee and that he has been dismissed from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) after being sent back from the RAW.
Yadav, 39, also known as “Vikas” and “Amanat”, according to the indictment, is the second person to be charged in connection with the case. Yadav’s alleged co-conspirator, 53-year-old Nikhil Gupta was previously charged and extradited to the United States on the charges contained in the first superseding indictment. Yadav remains at large, the DOJ said.
“The Justice Department will be relentless in holding accountable any person—regardless of their position or proximity to power—who seeks to harm and silence American citizens,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.
“As alleged, last year, we foiled an attempt by Vikash Yadav, an Indian government employee, and his co-conspirator, Nikhil Gupta, to assassinate an American citizen on US soil. Today’s charges demonstrate that the Justice Department will not tolerate attempts to target and endanger Americans and to undermine the rights to which every US citizen is entitled,” he said.
According to the indictment, Yadav was employed by the Government of India’s Cabinet Secretariat, which houses India’s foreign intelligence service, the R&AW.
“Yadav has described his position as a ‘senior field officer’ with responsibilities in ‘security management’ and ‘intelligence’. Yadav also has previously served in India’s Central Reserve Police Force and received ‘officer training’ in ‘battle craft’ and ‘weapons’. Yadav is a citizen and resident of India, and he directed the plot to assassinate the victim from India,” it said.
However, one of Yadav’s photographs shows him in Army combat fatigues, but does not carry any rank epaulets.
The US indictment says that he was originally from the CRPF and was an “Assistant Commandant”.
“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 US soil,” the DOJ statement said.
India’s Yadav and Gupta have been charged with murder-for-hire (maximum penalty of 10 years in prison), conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire (maximum penalty of 10 years in prison), and conspiracy to commit money laundering (maximum penalty of 20 years in prison).
The plot unravelled after Gupta’s hired assassin turned out to be an undercover agent of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The indictment against Yadav, as in the case of Gupta, also refers to the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar which the former RAW officer showed off as India’s doing.
“On or about June 18, 2023, approximately two days before the Indian Prime Minister’s state visit to the United States, masked gunmen murdered Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia, Canada. Nijjar was an associate of the victim and, like the victim, was a leader of the Sikh separatist movement and an outspoken critic of the Indian government,” the indictment says.
“On or about June 19, 2023, the day after the Nijjar murder, Gupta told the UC (undercover) that Nijjar ‘was also the target’ and ‘we have so many targets’. Gupta added that in light of Nijjar’s murder, there was ‘now no need to wait’ on killing the Victim. On or about June 20, 2023, Yadav sent Gupta a news article about the victim and messaged Gupta, ‘[i]t’s [a] priority now’.”
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
Also read: Key closed-door legal ‘conference’ to set stage for trial in Pannun murder-for-hire case in US