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
This is the difference between Russia and the USA. Had Pannun been residing in Russia, a phone call from Jaishankar would have sufficed to extradite him to India. Putin would have put him on the very next flight to Delhi.
The US, however, has always refused to cooperate with Indian agencies. David Headley is the best example of this. The US flatly refused to extradite Headley to India despite his involvement in the Mumbai terror attack.
Instances like these serve to remind us Indians who is actually a friend of ours.
The US must no longer be considered a friend by the Indian establishment. The US-India relationship henceforth should be one of shared interests and not one of friendship.
As long as our interests and goals are aligned, we will work together. Eventually, when our interests/goals are no longer in sync, we would walk our separate paths.
Pakistan is the perfect example of what “friendship” with the US can reduce a nation to.
This case must open the eyes of India’s security and military establishment.
The US is NOT an ally. It never was.
The US is just an opportunistic “friend” whose perennial pre-occupation is to contain it’s rivals (China, Russia, etc.) and in pursuit of which it is willing to use and abuse any other nation.
The warming up of India-USA relations since the early 2000s has very less to do with shared values or being fellow democracies. It’s just that the Sino-Russian threat had acquired a dimension big enough to worry the US. And in many ways it forced the US to seek closer ties with India.
One may blame Pandit Nehru for many things but he was correct in his assessment of the Americans- the reason why he was cold all through to American overtures and ruled out signing any pacts/treaties with them.
Pakistan fell for the US trap and now serves as an example of what happens to a nation when the US is done with it.