New Delhi: The US Justice Department in its indictment in the “foiled plot to assassinate” Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) founder Gurpatwant Singh Pannun drew a direct connection between former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) officer Vikash Yadav and the Indian Prime Minister’s Office (PMO)—an approach India’s security establishment sees as an ‘escalation’.
Unsealed on 17 October, the indictment states: “During times relevant to this superseding indictment, Yadav was employed by the Government of India’s Cabinet Secretariat, which is a part of the Indian Prime Minister’s Office. RAW is an arm of the Cabinet Secretariat.”
It goes on to add that Yadav described his position as “senior field officer” with responsibilities in “security management and intelligence,” and he “listed his employer’s address as the CGO Complex in New Delhi, which is where RAW is headquartered”.
Founded in 1968, RAW is the country’s apex intelligence agency. Its chief is designated the rank of secretary (research) in the Cabinet Secretariat.
Reacting to mention of the PMO in the US Justice Department indictment, a source in the Indian security establishment told ThePrint, “This is the first time PMO has been linked to the officer accused of plotting to kill US citizen Pannun, from India and giving orders for the same. This shows that things have escalated. The indictment has also put out a picture of Vikash Yadav in uniform. Delhi now needs a strong response to counter this.”
Adding, “Although it has been conveyed to the US that appropriate action was taken against the officer and he was dismissed from service, the US now wants speedy investigation. They have very categorically conveyed that any such attempt made on US soil, on a US citizen, will not be tolerated and people involved must be held accountable.”
An enquiry committee formed by the Government of India was in Washington DC last week to discuss its findings into allegations levelled by the US Justice Department in connection with the assassination plot.
Vikash Yadav, Nikhil Gupta & the two indictments
The US Justice Department in an indictment filed last November against Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national extradited to the US from the Czech Republic in June this year, said it had uncovered and foiled a “plot to assassinate” Pannun. Without naming the individual, the indictment said Gupta was working with “an Indian government employee” and others.
It was only this month that the second superseding indictment was unsealed and the “Indian government employee” in the equation identified as Yadav, who it said previously served in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and received “officer training” in “battlecraft” and “weapons”.
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 assassination plot unravelled after the ‘hitman’ Gupta allegedly hired at Yadav’s behest turned out to be an undercover US law enforcement officer.
The indictments say Gupta hired the ‘hitman’ through a confidential source, who too was working with US law enforcement, and that Yadav promised Gupta assistance in securing dismissal of a case against him in Gujarat. The following are some purported excerpts of telephonic, text or electronic exchanges between Yadav and Gupta from May and June 2023, as stated in the two indictments filed by the US Justice Department.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)