North News
New Delhi, October 18
The U.S. Justice Department has announced charges against Indian government employee Vikash Yadav, 39, in connection with a foiled murder-for-hire alleged plot targeting Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen and designated Khalistani terrorist by India. Pannun, a New York-based lawyer, is known for his anti-national activities, although the Justice Department’s official statement only referred to him as a U.S. citizen in New York City. The FBI has put Yadav on its list of wanted fugitives.
During a press conference, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said that former RAW officer Yadav no longer an employee of the Indian government. According to the US Justice Department, Yadav, also known as Vikas and Amanat, faces charges of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and money laundering, as outlined in a second superseding indictment unsealed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. His alleged co-conspirator, Nikhil Gupta, 53, was previously extradited to the US and charged in the case. Yadav remains at large.
The Justice Department emphasized that an indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
The case, as detailed in court documents, involves a plot to assassinate a US citizen of Indian origin who is a vocal critic of the Indian government. The victim, residing in New York City, advocates for the secession of Punjab and the creation of a Sikh sovereign state, Khalistan. In May 2023, Yadav allegedly recruited Gupta, who had ties to narcotics and weapons trafficking, to arrange the assassination. Gupta then contacted an undercover DEA agent posing as a hitman and arranged for a $100,000 payment for the murder, delivering $15,000 in advance to the undercover officer in Manhattan.
Yadav also provided personal information about the victim, including their home address, phone numbers, and daily routine, and instructed Gupta to pass this information to the hitman. Surveillance photographs of the victim were also shared with Yadav as the plot progressed. Although Gupta urged the hitman to delay the murder until after the Indian Prime Minister’s state visit to the U.S. in June 2023, he later signaled to proceed following the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh leader in Canada, on June 18, 2023.
Yadav and Gupta are charged with murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison. The investigation was led by the DEA New York Division and the FBI New York Field Office’s Counterintelligence Division, with support from international partners and various law enforcement agencies
Attorney General Merrick Garland emphasized that the U.S. government would hold accountable anyone, regardless of position, who seeks to harm American citizens. “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,” said Garland. “Today’s charges demonstrate that the Justice Department will not tolerate such attempts to target and endanger Americans and to undermine the rights to which every U.S. citizen is entitled.”
