Ex-Indian intelligence officer charged for directing plot to assassinate US citizen in NYC

The U.S. Justice Department unsealed an indictment Thursday against a former Indian intelligence officer accused of directing a foiled assassination attempt in New York City against a Sikh American man who has been a vocal critic of the Indian government.

Vikash Yadav, 39, was charged with directing the plot to murder a leader of the Sikh separatist movement and dual U.S.-Canadian citizen, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, last year. Yadav was employed in the Research and Analysis Wing at the time, according to prosecutors, which is India's foreign intelligence agency.

“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,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland.

The announcement comes on the heels of a meeting in Washington between U.S. officials and an Indian government committee investigating alleged Indian involvement in the foiled murder plot. On Monday, Canada expelled Indian diplomats they said were linked to the 2023 murder of another Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, on Canadian soil. India in response ordered the expulsion of Canadian diplomats and denied Canada's allegations.

Court records detail the assassination plot

In May 2023, Yadav directed the murder plot in New York City from India, according to an indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Yadav is no longer employed by the Indian government, according to the Justice Department. He remains at large.

In May 2023, Yadav asked Indian national Nikhil Gupta, 53, to arrange the assassination in exchange for the dismissal of a criminal case against Gupta in India, according to the indictment. Gupta agreed and Yadav later that month said the case was “taken care of” and offered to arrange a meeting between Gupta and an Indian deputy police commissioner, court records said.

Under Yadav’s direction, Gupta contacted an associate, who was actually a confidential source working with the Drug Enforcement Administration, according to court filings. The source introduced Yadav to a purported hitman, who was an undercover DEA officer. Yadav and Gupta arranged to deliver $15,000 to the undercover source as advance payment for the assassination.

Gupta instructed the undercover operative not to carry out the assassination at the time of India Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the U.S. in late June 2023.

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that senior officials in the Modi administration likely authorized the alleged plot, the Washington Post reported earlier this year. India’s Ministry of External Affairs has said targeted killings are "not our policy."

The indictment also references the killing of Nijjar by masked gunmen in Canada last June. Yadav said Nijjar, a Canadian citizen and Sikh separatist leader, had also been a target and that there was "now no need to wait" in striking Pannun.

Yadav and his associates had collected personal information about Pannun, including his home address, phone numbers, and daily routine, officials claim.

Then on June 30, 2023, Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic and extradited to the U.S.

In addition to the murder attempt in New York, Yadav was planning three additional killings in Canada, according to court records.

Yadav is charged with murder for hire, murder for hire conspiracy, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison.

“Today’s charges are a grave example of the increase in lethal plotting and other forms of violent transnational repression targeting diaspora communities in the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

An attorney for Yadav was not listed in court records Thursday. The Indian Embassy in Washington D.C. did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.

Target of murder plot speaks out

Following the Justice Department's announcement, Pannun said the charges against Yadav demonstrate the U.S. government has “reassured its commitment to fundamental constitutional duty to protect the life, liberty, and freedom of expression of the U.S. Citizen at home and abroad.”

Pannun is the general counsel of Sikhs for Justice, a group that advocates for the secession of Punjab – a state in northern India that is home to a large population of Sikhs – into an independent state called Khalistan. Sikhs are an ethnoreligious minority group in India.

“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,” Pannun said.

Contributing: Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ex-Indian intelligence officer charged for directing plot to assassinate US citizen in NYC