Former Indian spy charged in plot to assassinate US citizen in New York

Indian intelligence officer accused of being the ‘mastermind’ behind murder-for-hire plot against Sikh dissident Gurpatwant Singh Pannun

A member of United Hindu Front holds a banner depicting Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New Delhi on 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

The US has criminally charged a former Indian intelligence officer accused of directing a foiled assassination plot against a Sikh separatist leader in New York City last year, escalating efforts to hold the Indian government accountable for an alleged act of violence on US soil.

Vikash Yadav — a former officer in India’s foreign intelligence service who was named by named by federal prosecutors for the first time in Thursday’s superseding indictment — is charged with money laundering, conspiracy and leading a murder-for-hire scheme.

His alleged co-conspirator, Nikhil Gupta, was previously charged and extradited to the US. He remains in a Brooklyn jail and has pleaded not guilty. Yadav — described by law enforcement officials as the “mastermind” of the scheme — remains at large.

“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,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement on Thursday.

Yadav and Gupta are accused of plotting the assassination of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US and Canadian citizen who founded Sikhs for Justice, which advocates for the creation of the independent Sikh state of Khalistan. The organization is banned in India, where he is also considered a “terrorist.”

In May 2023, Yadav allegedly recruited Gupta to orchestrate the killing, and at Yadav’s direction, he contacted an associate revealed to be a confidential source for the Drug Enforcement Administration, according to the indictment.

Gupta was introduced to a purported “hitman” who was in fact an undercover officer.

This ‘wanted’ poster provided by the FBI shows Vikash Yadav, an Indian government employee, who is criminally charged in connection with a foiled plot to kill a US citizen and Indian dissident (AP)

Yadav provided Gupta with Pannun’s address, phone number and other personal information, and Gupta urged the “hitman” to carry out the killing as soon as possible but avoid timing the killing during high-level meetings between US and Indian officials, according to prosecutors.

Days before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US, masked gunmen killed Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia, Canada. The following day, Gupta allegedly told the hitman that Nijjar “was also the target” and “we have so many targets.”

He said there was “no need to wait” to kill Pannun, according to the indictment. “It’s a priority now,” he wrote on June 20.

Nikhil Gupta appears in federal court in New York after his extradition from the Czech Republic on June 17 (REUTERS)

The latest indictment is a “grave example of the increase in lethal plotting and other forms of violent transnational repression targeting diaspora communities in the United States,” according to a statement from Assistant Attorney General Matthew G Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

The Justice Department’s most-direct public confrontation with New Delhi over the foiled assassination attempt comes on the heels of Canada publicly alleging India’s broader campaign of violence against Indian dissidents, including allegations that the killing of a Sikh separatist was directed by government officials.

There have not been any publicly identified direct links between the threat against Pannum and the murder in Canada, though parallels in the cases have drawn concerns from officials that India has launched a wider global effort to quash dissent.

Yadav “used his position of authority and access to confidential information to direct the attempted assassination of an outspoken critic of the Indian government here on US soil,” according to DEA Administrator Anne Milgram.