Former Research & Analysis Wing officer Vikash Yadav’s case is getting more intriguing. Accused by the US authorities of being the mastermind of an alleged plot to kill Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, he is facing several other allegations too. Some of them were undertaken not necessarily in the service of his country.
An assistant commandant in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Yadav was reportedly recruited by the R&AW, probably considering his information-gathering capabilities and other special services the research organisation requires from time to time on international matters. It is strange that the US agencies have found him to be involved in a serious plot to eliminate a proven terrorist.
Unlike the US, India does not practice revenge killings and extra-constitutional and extra-judicial activities. The US has also sought Yadav’s extradition so that its courts can conduct an independent inquiry, initiate judicial proceedings and take appropriate action. Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has also alleged that he is involved in offences of robbery and kidnapping.
It is difficult to believe that senior and responsible officers of law-enforcement agencies and research organisations of the government would get embroiled in such crimes. The Delhi Police’s allegations need to be investigated thoroughly and speedily. If the person concerned is found guilty, he deserves the severest of the punishments provided in law. If he is found not guilty, he should be exonerated of the allegation honourably and brought into active service if his employment terms permit and the employers, in this case, either RAW or CRPF, is willing. In any case, the question of handing him over to the US authorities does not arise, for several reasons.
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US-India extradition treaty
In case the allegations by Delhi Police against Vikash Yadav are proved he is undoubtedly liable to be punished with 20 years jail term, during which time he cannot be extradited. He may be granted bail on specific request but with no permission to leave the city of his incarceration. Besides, unless he serves his full term of punishment, he cannot be tried in the US on mere allegations of recruiting someone on ‘plot to kill’ basis. The allegations against Yadav appear to be highly motivated and foisted by a regime that no longer commands political power in Washington DC.
The new team in the White House should know that New Delhi attaches a very high degree of importance to India-US relations in every sphere of bilateral and multilateral engagements. The US has every right to protect the life of its citizens but India should remind the White House that it will not appreciate the US, or for that matter, any other country, for allowing anti-India activists to operate freely, enjoying complete state protection. Pro-Khalistan activists are not the first of the anti-India ilk to operate from the US soil.
India should remind the US to extradite David Coleman Headley alias Dawood Gilani, who passed on sensitive information to Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). His actions resulted in the dastardly 2008 Mumbai attacks, sniffing out more than 160 innocent lives, including some Americans. There is no reason why the US, itself a victim of terrorism, should protect anti-India terrorists. Another extradition request of Tahawwur Rana, a Canadian of Pakistani origin who partnered with Headley in terror plots, is also pending in the US Supreme Court.
Incidentally, in 2011, Rana was convicted by jurors at the federal court in Chicago for providing support to LeT and for his role in an aborted plot against a Danish newspaper. Again in 2013, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison but released on compassionate grounds in 2020 after testing positive for Covid-19. But a US court allowed for his extradition in 2023 going by the treaty between the US and India after finding him guilty of criminal conspiracy, committing terrorist acts and murder—all extraditable offences.
The Indian R&AW officer’s case does not fall under any of these charges and none of the allegations against him have been substantiated so far. It is for the diplomatic community to present India’s case strongly before the US authorities and get the case dismissed once and for all.
After all, gathering information and collecting intelligence inputs from various sources, domestic and foreign, is the routine work of all intelligence agencies. Such officers deserve protection and support for all the risks involved in the discharge of their duties. There are several examples in history.
Robert Maxwell, a spy who worked for MI5, KGB and Mossad, and faced charges of financial irregularities, was honoured with lying-in-state service by Israel nine years after his mysterious death. At the ceremony, then-President Chaim Herzog acknowledged Maxwell’s “significant involvement” in Israel’s efforts for economic independence, absorption of Russian immigration, and the pursuit of peace. Jonathan Jay Pollard, who was found guilty of spying for and providing top-secret classified information to Israel and sentenced to life in US prison was given a hero’s welcome by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he landed in Tel Aviv in 2020.
Espionage is a necessary evil. Just as members of the armed forces gathering intelligence in uniform are not considered spies, civilians too need some minimum immunity.
The author is the former editor of ‘Organiser’. He tweets @seshadrichari. Views are personal.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)
You really think he was a rouge officer? More like Modi/Shah/Doval got caught with their hand in the cookie jar and so have offered up this agent as a sacrificial lamb to appease the US. The evidence is pretty clear that Yadav had Indian handlers from the government and intelligence agencies.
Had this operation actually been a success, Yadav would have been on the fast track to promotion. Maybe he would have gotten a movie deal and be portrayed by Akshay Kumar.
There is a distinction between intelligence gathering and such covert actions. More so between friends and strategic partners. The government has rightly distanced itself completely from this rogue officer.