An Indian intelligence officer has been indicted by the U.S. Justice Department for his involvement in a foiled plot to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist leader residing in the United States. The announcement was made on Thursday, with officials revealing that 39-year-old Vikash Yadav remains at large and faces charges of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and money laundering.
Yadav is the second Indian national implicated in the alleged plot to kill Pannun, a U.S. and Canadian citizen and leader of the pro-secessionist group Sikhs for Justice, which advocates for an independent Punjab state in India. Earlier, Nikhil Gupta, 53, pleaded not guilty in June after being extradited from the Czech Republic for his alleged role in the conspiracy.
Pannun, in a statement on X (formerly Twitter), condemned the assassination plot as “a blatant case of India’s transnational terrorism” and a “threat to freedom of speech and democracy.”
The U.S. Justice Department alleges that Yadav, an employee of the Indian government, orchestrated the plot and recruited Gupta to hire a hitman in May 2023. Gupta, in turn, attempted to engage an individual he believed was a criminal associate, but the person was actually a confidential source working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
DEA Chief Anne Milgram commented on the case, stating that Yadav had “used his position of authority and access to confidential information to direct the attempted assassination of an outspoken critic of the Indian government here on U.S. soil.”
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland reinforced the government’s stance, declaring that the Justice Department “will be relentless in holding accountable any person — regardless of their position or proximity to power — who seeks to harm and silence American citizens.”
The indictment comes amid broader tensions between India and Western nations regarding alleged transnational assassination plots. India has informed the United States that Yadav is no longer in government service, signaling cooperation between the two nations. This stands in contrast to the defiant stance India has taken with Canada, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has accused India of orchestrating a similar plot that led to the killing of a Sikh separatist in Vancouver last year.
While the U.S. has quietly managed diplomatic exchanges with India, tensions between Canada and India have escalated, with both nations expelling each other’s ambassadors earlier this week. India has strongly denied Canada’s allegations, calling them politically motivated.
The Sikh diaspora, which is highly influential in Canadian politics, continues to be a key factor in the international fallout over the allegations.
