US charges former Indian official in foiled Sikh murder-for-hire plot: DOJ

A former Indian government employee was charged Thursday in New York with murder-for-hire for his role in directing a foiled plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist and critic of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration, federal prosecutors said.

Vikash Yadav, a former Indian intelligence officer, remains at large.

A co-conspirator of the murder-for-hire plot, Nikhil Gupta, was previously charged and extradited to the U.S. in June.

Yadav allegedly orchestrated the plot from abroad to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a leader of New York-based Sikhs for Justice, which has been advocating for the creation of a sovereign Sikh state, according to prosecutors.

Yadav recruited Gupta to carry out the assassination plot, according to court records; however, the hitman Gupta hired turned out to be an undercover U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent.

On June 18, 2023, two days before Modi was scheduled to visit the United States, masked gunmen murdered Hardeep Singh Nijjar -- an associate of Pannun -- outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia, Canada.

That incident has since ruptured diplomatic ties between India and Canada.

The day after Nijjar's murder, Gupta told the "hitman" that there was "now no need to wait" on killing Pannun.

"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," U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement following the charges Thursday.

"As alleged, last year, we foiled an attempt by Vikash Yadav, an Indian government employee, and his co-conspirator, Nikhil Gupta, to assassinate an American citizen on U.S. soil," Garland said.