New Delhi: From writing to the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief about his “deep mental agony” to demanding repatriation to his parent cadre “out of frustration”—former intelligence officer Vikash Yadav’s story is a bizarre tale of a spy fighting a legal battle to confirm his job at RAW, while also allegedly planning an assassination of a Sikh separatist in the United States. This is part of the messy picture emerging from the detailed Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) filings, accessed exclusively by ThePrint.
The US charged Yadav in an alleged 2023 murder-for-hire plot against India-designated terrorist and Sikhs for Justice legal counsel Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York. Not only is Yadav now on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s “most wanted” list, but a US federal warrant was issued on 10 October for his arrest.
Initially, the indictment filed in a New York district court in November 2023 that first alleged a plot to murder Pannun by an Indian government official in cahoots with an Indian citizen, Nikhil Gupta, did not mention Yadav’s name. He was only identified as ‘CC-1’ (co-conspirator). But a superseding indictment unsealed last week named Yadav. He was arrested in India last December in a local case on charges of attempted murder, kidnapping, extortion, and Arms Act violations, but was granted bail in April this year.
For Yadav, it all began with an advertisement published in May 2012. At the time, he had been working as an assistant commandant with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), according to the documents, though they don’t specify where. Responding to the advertisement, he applied for the senior field officer (general) or SFO(G) position with the Cabinet Secretariat, the parent agency of RAW.
In June 2013, he was offered the role, but this appointment offer said he would be on probation for two years. Tendering a “technical resignation” to the CRPF, he joined RAW’s sister image-intelligence gathering agency, the Aviation Research Centre (ARC), on a direct recruitment/transfer basis in September 2013.
The official notification appointing him an SFO(G) at the ARC, Directorate General of Security, came on 9 January 2014, with effect from 23 September 2013.
However, this was the beginning of a nine-year probation period for Yadav, forcing him to make representations to RAW and approach the CAT twice before his post was confirmed in November last year. The tribunal exclusively deals with service disputes involving government employees and is usually headed by a former high court judge.
Also Read: US charges ‘CC-1’ Vikash Yadav for orchestrating Pannun murder plot. A timeline
Deemed ‘ineligible’ for the role
According to documents accessed by ThePrint, the Cabinet Secretariat took up the proposal to clear his probation and confirm his service on 8 August 2016. But, in August 2017, the progress hit a stop when, in a note, seen by ThePrint, it said that Yadav was “ineligible” for recruitment to the SFO(G) post in the secretariat in the first place.
Yadav had appeared for the UPSC Central Armed Police Forces (Assistant Commandants) Exam in 2006 and cleared it in 2007. This exam is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to select candidates for various armed forces around the country. He then joined the CRPF as an assistant commandant in 2009.
However, the eligibility criteria mentioned in the advertisement for the post of SFO(G) said that only those officers who had joined as assistant commandant in the Central Para-Military Forces (CPMF) and were selected through UPSC exams for the years 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 were eligible.
The August 2017 note further noted that, at his end, Yadav had correctly indicated the year he joined the CRPF in his application. Therefore, it said, his topmost boss, the RAW chief—or secretary (R) of the Cabinet Secretariat as the position is described—had approved a preliminary ARC inquiry into the “improper scrutiny” of the applications for direct recruitment of Yadav and another recruit.
‘No future prospects of career growth’
Frustrated with his pending confirmation, Yadav wrote a letter to the RAW chief on 4 February 2020, demanding his repatriation to his parent cadre, the CRPF.
This letter, seen by ThePrint, spoke of the “deep mental agony” and the “embarrassment and humiliation” that his non-confirmation was causing him.
“No future prospects of career growth appear to be available to me. My morale and motivation is at an all-time low, which has affected my professional capabilities over a period of time, and now it has started affecting my personal life as well,” he wrote.
He went on to list out the reasons he felt he would not get his legitimate dues at RAW. Among other things, he alleged a wrongful fixation on seniority, while pointing out that his probation clearance was under consideration even after 6 years.
“Even after completing 10 years of regular and continuous service, I am still not sure whether I am a temporary or a permanent employee in the service of the Union of India,” he wrote. The department, he wrote, had neither been able to resolve its issues nor had it utilised his professional competence in the best possible way.
Therefore, he requested his repatriation to the CRPF “where my service interests can be safeguarded in much better manner”.
‘Fully in order’
In March 2020, however, the Cabinet Secretariat did an about-turn, claiming that Yadav’s induction to the ARC was “fully in order”. A note issued by the Cabinet Secretariat explained that since Yadav was selected to fill the post meant for the batch year 2009 and he joined the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF)—of which the CRPF is a part—as an assistant commandant on 27 January 2009, his recruitment was in order. It requested the initiation of appropriate action to process Yadav’s probation clearance/confirmation.
Since Yadav had already asked to be sent back to the CRPF, the note, therefore, also said that his letter was being examined separately.
Over the next few months, files for Yadav’s repatriation to CRPF were moved around.
A Cabinet Secretariat file dated 24 January 2021 contained a proposal for relaxation of lien under Fundamental Rules (FR) 9(13) for certain RAW officers—including Yadav—to allow their reversion to their parent cadres. A lien connotes the right of a civil servant to hold a post and is a benefit enjoyed by all employees who are confirmed in a post.
In May 2022 order, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) granted a “one-time exemption” for Yadav’s repatriation to his parent cadre subject to certain conditions.
An office memorandum then issued in January 2023 by the ARC noted that given the DoPT’s approval, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had been requested to consider Yadav’s repatriation to the CRPF. The MHA had then responded to the Cabinet Secretariat with recommendations on granting seniority and service benefits to him on his repatriation to the CRPF.
Among other things, these recommendations showed that if Yadav accepted the repatriation, he would not have been considered for promotion at par with his batchmates because the nine years that he spent in the Cabinet Secretariat after tendering his technical resignation from the CRPF would not have counted for minimum qualifying service for promotion.
‘Mental trauma and de-motivation’
While waiting still for confirmation of his post, Yadav applied for the post of deputy director at the Ministry of Civil Aviation on a deputation basis.
In March 2021, the government issued a memorandum pointing out that in his application for the post, he had mentioned that his present employment was “permanent” when the proposal to clear his probation was still pending.
Yadav made a representation to the authorities on 19 March 2021. In it, he asked, “Why even after completion of 12 years of unblemished govt. service (4.5 years in CRPF and 7.5 years in ARC) I am still a temporary employee?”
He also questioned why his CRPF batchmates who were taken into RAW in the same recruitment drive as him had been confirmed and promoted as undersecretaries, but he was still struggling to be confirmed.
“Cabinet Sectt. selected me for the post based on my outstanding service record and qualifications. But depriving me of my legitimate dues (confirmation and promotion) for so long is causing serious mental trauma and de-motivation. It is adversely affecting my professional as well as personal life,” he said in his letter to the Cabinet Secretariat.
In September 2021, the Ministry of Civil Aviation cancelled his candidature.
‘Out of frustration’
On 16 August 2022, Yadav then approached the CAT for the first time. His plea was disposed of just days later, on 26 August 2022, with the tribunal directing the respondent authorities to decide his March 2021 representation.
However, he had to approach the CAT again on 5 December 2022 after the authorities rejected his representation on 17 October 2022, claiming that his confirmation was not processed owing to his request for repatriation to his parent cadre.
His plea now explained that he wrote the February 2020 letter “out of frustration, as even after rendering of about seven years as senior field officer(G), [he] was not confirmed on the same post, whereas all his junior/batch mates have been promoted in the line of cadre”.
He, therefore, claimed that his March 2021 representation superseded his February 2020 letter—indicating that he may not want to go back to the CRPF anymore.
The CAT issued a notice to the government authorities on 8 December 2022, demanding their response to Yadav’s plea.
At this time, another development was unfolding on the sides. According to the superseding US indictment, Yadav had allegedly recruited Gupta to orchestrate the assassination in May 2023. It alleged that, around June 2023, Yadav allegedly provided Gupta with Pannun’s personal information, and helped Gupta arrange an advance cash payment for the assassination.
RAW blamed Yadav in CAT
Nine months after Yadav filed his second plea in the CAT, the Cabinet Secretariat, in September 2023, filed a response in the tribunal asserting that the CAT should reject Yadav’s application. This response claimed that since Yadav had, in February 2020, demanded repatriation to the CRPF, his probation clearance and confirmation had not been processed further.
However, the secretariat noted that, in response to a January 2023 proposal for his repatriation, Yadav had conveyed his unwillingness to return to the CRPF. The government’s September 2023 response in the CAT said that his unwillingness had been conveyed to the MHA and the CRPF.
The government then went on to blame Yadav for the delay in his confirmation.
“Therefore, the situation of delay and not processing of his case for probation clearance and confirmation is created by the applicant himself, which cannot be imputed upon the respondent department,” it said in its September 2023 response.
‘No comments’
By the time Yadav filed his rejoinder on 3 October in response to the Centre’s September 2023 reply, it looked like something had changed on both sides.
Out of the 11 paragraphs in his response, five just said “no comments”. Three other paragraphs were just a reiteration of the same assertion— that he applied for the post of SFO(G) in May 2012 “through proper channel, as a direct recruit”. Therefore, he asserted that to say he was ineligible to be appointed as SFO(G) is “incorrect”.
Days later, the Cabinet Secretariat changed its mind and issued an order on 9 October, confirming his post with effect from 13 November 2015.
This confirmation of his post came two months after US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief William Burns discussed the alleged Pannun murder plot with India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, as reported by the Washington Post.
ThePrint earlier reported that after the US authorities flagged his name and alleged actions, RAW had suspended Yadav. He was sent back to his parent organisation, the CRPF, in 2023 after an internal probe into violations of an internal order. But later, he was dismissed from the CRPF as well and was the subject of an enquiry being conducted by a high-level committee formed by India to look into the allegations, government sources had told ThePrint earlier.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)