Gurpatwant Singh Pannu.
New Delhi: After the US prosecutors’ sensational allegations in a Manhattan court filing indicting an Indian national by name and the involvement of an Indian government agent in a purported botched attempt to assassinate a prominent Sikh-American Khalistani leader on US soil, India officially reacted on Thursday, India said it was a “matter of concern” for the country and such a thing was “contrary” to New Delhi’s policies. It also said a high-level enquiry committee has been constituted to probe the matter.
Although the indictment papers didn’t name the target of the assassination bid, US officials later said it was the Khalistani separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun – who India declared as an individual terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
In a statement, India’s foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said: “As regards the case against an individual filed in a US court, allegedly linking him to an Indian official. This is a matter of concern. We have said and let me reiterate that it’s also contrary to the government's policy.”
He further added: “The nexus between organized crimes, trafficking, gun running, and extremism at international level is a serious issue for law enforcement agencies and organisations to consider and it is precisely for that reason a high-level enquiry committee has been constituted, and we will obviously be guided by its results.”
As India Sentinels reported, US prosecutors said they had charged an Indian national named Nikhil Gupta, 52, with “murder for hire” and “conspiracy to commit murder for hire”. Gupta was directed by an Indian government official, referred to as “CC-1” in the indictment, to carry out “another” assassination and the new target would be in California. Gupta then got in touch with a hitman, who turned out to be a US federal agent and exposed the plot.
US welcomes India’s probe
Meanwhile, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, who was in Israel on Thursday, said India’s announcement of launching an investigation into allegations by the US that an Indian official was involved in a foiled plot to assassinate Pannun in the United States is “good and appropriate”.
Talking to reporters in Tel Aviv, Blinken said, “The [Indian] government announced today that it was conducting an investigation, and that's good and appropriate, and we look forward to seeing the results,” adding, “This is an ongoing legal matter. So, you’ll understand I can’t comment on it in detail. I can say that this is something we take very seriously. A number of us have raised this directly with the Indian government in past weeks.”
Report says US ‘blocked replacement of Washington RAW station head’
According to a report in ThePrint, the US has blocked the replacement of the Washington, DC station head of India’s Research & Analysis Wing following the unearthing of the alleged assassination plots of western citizens. One of those, as Canada alleged, was successful when unknown assailants gunned down Hardeep Singh Nijjar, another Sikh separatist holding Canadian citizenship, outside a Sikh cultural centre at Surrey in Canada’s British Columbia province in June this year.
ThePrint report citing unnamed sources also said the US expelled the RAW station head in San Francisco. Additionally, it said even the United Kingdom expelled the deputy of the RAW head stationed in London. It may be noted that after the Canadian prime minister, Justine Trudeau, alleged that India was behind the murder of Nijjar, which India rubbished as an “absurd” claim, it expelled a senior diplomat from the Indian high commission in Ottawa. The envoy is believed to be India’s RAW station head there.
It may be noted that the US, Canada, and the UK are among the five countries known as “Five Eyes” and closely share intelligence and cooperate with each other’s intelligence-gathering efforts. The other two countries are Australia and New Zealand.
