Delhi under pressure, Indian spy accused of trying to kill Khalistani leader
After Canada, the US has increased India’s discomfort. The United States has formally charged former Indian intelligence officer Vikas Yadav with plotting to kill Khalistani leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. This was confirmed by the US investigative agency FBI in a statement on Thursday.
The British news agency BBC gave this news in a report on Friday.
The American investigative agency, the FBI, claimed in court last month that Vikas Yadav was involved in the conspiracy to kill Indian-origin Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) leader Pannun in the US.
In the complaint, the United States said that Indian intelligence agencies hired Vikas Yadav to plot Pannun’s murder. The organization has mentioned him as a ‘senior field officer’. He did security management and intelligence work for India.
The chargesheet also mentions that Vikas Yadav worked for the ‘Central Reserve Police Force’, India’s largest paramilitary force. To kill Pannun, Vikas gave details of her address, phone number and daily activities in New York to the mercenary Nikhil Gupta.
According to a press release from the US Department of Justice, Bikash Yadav is still at large. He could not be arrested. Accused Vikas is now in India.
It is believed that the US government may take steps to return them to the United States under the extradition treaty. Meanwhile, the Indian Express claimed in a report that the Delhi Police arrested Vikas Yadav immediately after the US indicted him.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed that there is “clear evidence” of the involvement of Indian intelligence behind the killing of another Khalistani leader, Nijjar, last Monday. Because of this, the Canadian government has expelled six diplomats, including India’s High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma in Ottawa. In response, New Delhi expelled six diplomats from India, including the Acting High Commissioner of Canada. India is under pressure with this.
Earlier, the US court summoned India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval in the Pannun murder conspiracy case on September 23. Along with Ajit Doval, former head of India’s Research and Analytical Wing (R) Samant Goel, Vikas Yadav and Indian businessman Nikhil Gupta were summoned.
A Washington Post report recently claimed that an Indian intelligence agent named Vikas Yadav hired the team to kill Pannun. The report even claims that the then Chief Minister Samant Goyal approved the assassination plan. Besides, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval knew about it. However, India has denied this report of the Washington Post.
Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta, accused in the Pannun murder case, was brought back from the Czech Republic by the New York police. Nikhil was arrested in the Czech Republic last year. About a year later, Czech police turned him over to the US Department of Justice.
