New Delhi: Top US intelligence officials had repeatedly raised concerns about the alleged involvement of an Indian “government employee” in an “assassination attempt” on Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in America and demanded a probe in the matter, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.
Pannun, an American and Canadian citizen, has been designated as a terrorist by India.
Writing about the alleged assassination attempt on Pannun, the Post wrote, US national security advisor Jake Sullivan communicated his concerns to Indian national security advisor Ajit Doval in early August, during a meeting in another country in the region.
Sullivan’s meeting with Doval, was followed by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director William J. Burns’s visit to India, where he met the head of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) Ravi Sinha, added the Post. The article further claimed that the US administration, through Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Sullivan, once again raised the issue with Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar during his visit to Washington D.C. in September.
Director of national intelligence, Avril Haines too visited India in October for the same reason, the Post reported.
Additionally, President Biden himself is reported to have stressed the seriousness of the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the former’s visit to New Delhi in September for the G20 leaders summit.
ThePrint reached the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Arindam Bagchi on WhatsApp for response to the Post article, but he declined comment.
Earlier Wednesday, the MEA announced that it had constituted a “high level” inquiry committee on 18 November in connection with the alleged assassination attempt on Pannun.
British daily Financial Times (FT) was the first to break the news of a “diplomatic warning” issued to India after the US government agencies reportedly thwarted an assassination attempt on Pannun — the founder of the banned outfit Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a US-based group that has repeatedly called for a referendum for a independent Sikh state of Khalistan. It also reported about the existence of an indictment in a district court in New York in the case.
The bare-bones indictment on the “murder-for-hire plot” involving an Indian individual — Nikhil Gupta — was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on 13 June. The June indictment alleges that Gupta coordinated a $15,000 advance payment to the purported hitman’s associate in New York.
The Biden administration is said to have learnt of the charges in late July, which then triggered the official communications to the Indian government.
The US department of justice has since also filed a superseding indictment against Gupta and announced the filing of charges against him, which was unsealed Wednesday.
News of the foiled assassination plot comes two months after Canada announced that it is investigating “credible allegations” of a “potential link” between the killing of another Sikh separatist — Hardeep Singh Nijjar — and agents of the government of India. Nijjar was gunned down by unidentified assailants outside of a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia on 18 June.
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A foiled assassination with international implications
The US justice department, in the superseding indictment, has alleged that Gupta, an Indian citizen, conspired from India to assassinate a US citizen of Indian origin in New York City, on directions of an employee of the government of India for $100,000.
The employee referred to as “CC-1” in the unsealed superseding indictment is alleged to have been “described being employed by the Indian government as a “senior field officer” with responsibilities in “security management” and “intelligence”.
ThePrint had earlier reported that the indictment alleges that “CC-1” as “referenced previously serving in India’s Central Reserve Police Force” and was employed “at all times relevant to this Indictment by the Indian government, resides in India, and directed the assassination plot from India.”
Gupta contacted an individual whom he believed to be a criminal associate but was a confidential source (CS) working with US law enforcement, for assistance in carrying out the assassination, the indictment alleges.
The CS introduced Gupta to a purported hitman, who was an undercover law enforcement officer (UC). On or about 9 June, Gupta arranged for an associate to deliver $15,000 in cash to the UC as an advance payment for the murder. The total sum agreed was $100,000 according to the indictment.
ThePrint had earlier also reported that the indictment also makes references to the killing of Nijjar – an Indian designated terrorist – calling him an “associate” of Pannun. The day after the killing of Nijjar, the indictment alleges that Gupta told the UC that he was also a “target”.
Gupta was eventually arrested on 30 June while traveling to the Czech Republic at the request of US authorities.
High-level inquiry committee
In a statement issued Wednesday, the MEA said, “On 18 November 2023, the Government of India constituted a high-level Enquiry Committee to look into all the relevant aspects of the matter. The Government of India will take necessary follow-up action based on the findings of the Enquiry Committee.”
The MEA’s statement follows comments made by the High Commissioner of India to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma in an interview with CTV News Sunday that New Delhi is cooperating with the US on the alleged assassination attempt on Pannun.
Verma asserted that, “The US side shared some inputs pertaining to nexus between organised criminals, gunrunners, terrorists and others. The inputs are a cause of concern for both countries.”
He added: “And, they decided to take necessary follow-up action. On its part, India takes such inputs seriously, since it impinges on our own national security interests as well. Issues in the context of US inputs are already being examined by relevant departments in India.”
Verma had also made it clear in the interview that Canada had not provided actionable evidence with New Delhi with regards to its allegations of a link between agents of the government of India and the killing of Nijjar.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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