The Justice Department has announced criminal charges against an Indian government employee specializing in intelligence in connection with a foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader living in New York City.
39-year-old Vikash Yadav faces murder-for-hire charges in a planned killing that prosecutors first disclosed last year, which was intended to be followed by a series of other politically motivated murders in the United States and Canada.
Yadav is currently at large, but the Biden administration, in charging him and releasing his name, aimed to expose the Indian government for criminal activity that has caused tension between India and the West, culminating in a recent diplomatic dispute with Canada and the expulsion of diplomats.
“The FBI will not tolerate acts of violence or other efforts to retaliate against those residing in the US for exercising their constitutionally protected rights,” stated FBI Director Christopher Wray.
The criminal case against Yadav was announced the same week as two members of an Indian inquiry committee investigating the plot were in Washington to meet with US officials regarding the investigation.
“They did inform us that the individual who was named in the Justice Department indictment is no longer an employee of the Indian government,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. “We are satisfied with cooperation. It continues to be an ongoing process.”
On Monday, Canada expelled India’s top diplomat in the country, identifying him as a person of interest in the assassination of a Sikh activist and accused Indian diplomats of targeting Sikh separatists in Canada, leading to a series of violent acts.
Indian officials denied the accusations, calling them absurd, and responded by expelling Canadian diplomats from India.
The murder-for-hire plot was first revealed by federal prosecutors last year when charges were brought against Nikhil Gupta, who was recruited by an unidentified Indian government employee to plan the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader in New York.
Gupta was extradited to the United States from the Czech Republic after being arrested in Prague last year.
The revised indictment stated that Yadav recruited Gupta in May 2023 to arrange the assassination, with Gupta contacting an individual at Yadav’s direction, who turned out to be a confidential source working with the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Gupta asked the individual to help hire a hitman for the murder, promising to pay $100,000, of which $15,000 was delivered by a Yadav associate to an undercover DEA source in Manhattan, as outlined in the indictment.
Yadav, a citizen and resident of India, directed the plot from India while working for the government of India’s Cabinet Secretariat, which houses India’s foreign intelligence service. Yadav held the position of a “Senior Field Officer” with responsibilities in “Security Management” and “Intelligence,” according to the Justice Department.
In June 2023, Yadav provided Gupta with personal information about the Sikh separatist leader, including his address, phone numbers, and daily movements, to be used in the assassination plot, which Gupta then relayed to the undercover DEA operative, according to court documents.
Yadav instructed Gupta to keep him informed regularly about the progress of the assassination plot, leading Gupta to send him surveillance photos of the intended victim, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who advocated for a sovereign Sikh state, as detailed in the indictment.
US authorities stated that the assassination of Pannun was scheduled to take place shortly after the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia. The goal was to eliminate at least four individuals in Canada and the US by a certain date and continue with more attacks thereafter.
In a statement, Pannun expressed gratitude for the US government’s commitment to protecting the rights and safety of its citizens. He emphasized that the assassination attempt on his life on American soil was a clear example of India’s transnational terrorism, posing a threat to freedom of speech and democracy.
He added, “The attempt on my life on American Soil is the blatant case of India’s transnational terrorism which has become a challenge to America’s sovereignty and threat to freedom of speech and democracy, which unequivocally proves that India believes in using bullets while pro Khalistan Sikhs believe in ballots.”
