New Delhi, May 1
The Centre slammed thenews report in The Washington Post that claimed to have identified the intelligence official involved in the assassination plot of Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, India on and called it “unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations on a serious matter”.
The Washington Post reported in an article on April 29 that an R&AW official identified as Vikram Yadav was involved in the assassination plot of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the US and the move was approved by the then Indian spy agency chief Samant Goel.
Pannun is one of the main leaders of the Khalistan movement and the legal advisor and spokesperson for the banned outfit Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) that is a proecribe terrorist organization in the records of National Investigation Agency (NI0. The Indian government has declared Pannun as an ‘indovidual terrorist’.
The report further said, “That India would pursue lethal operations in North America has stunned Western security officials. Yadav’s identity and affiliation, which have not previously been reported, provide the most explicit evidence to date that the assassination plan ultimately thwarted by US authorities was directed from within the Indian spy service,” it said.
“Higher-ranking (Research and Analysis Wing) RAW officials have also been implicated, according to current and former Western security officials, as part of a sprawling investigation by the CIA, FBI and other agencies that has mapped potential links to (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) Modi’s inner circle. In reports that have been closely held within the American government, US intelligence agencies have assessed that the operation targeting Pannun was approved by the RAW chief at the time, Samant Goel,” the report claimed.
It further stated, “That finding is consistent with accounts provided to The Washington Post by former senior Indian security officials who had knowledge of the operation and said Goel was under extreme pressure to eliminate the alleged threat of Sikh extremists overseas. US spy agencies have more tentatively assessed that Modi’s national security adviser, Ajit Doval, was probably aware of RAW’s plans to kill Sikh activists, but officials emphasised that no smoking gun proof has emerged".
In November last year, federal prosecutors in the US accused an Indian intelligence official of planning and directing a plot to allegedly kill Singh Pannun in New York. The allegations, in an indictment filed by the US Department of Justice in a federal court in Manhattan, said the plot involved another Indian citizen and two individuals, a source and a hitman, who turned out to be undercover US officers.
In the same month in 2023, NIA booked designated ‘individual terrorist’ Gurpatwant Singh Pannu under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, for allegedly threatening passengers flying via Air India as well as airlines with a global blockade and closure of operations from November 19. On July 10, 2019, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs banned SFJ under the UAPA for its activities.
