Sikh separatist chief Gurpatwant Singh Pannun
| Photo Credit: AP
An Indian government investigation into the alleged plot to kill Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York City has found that “rogue operatives”, not authorised by the government, had been involved, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.
Federal prosecutors in the U.S. had, in November, accused an Indian citizen, Nikhil Gupta, of plotting to kill Pannun on the behest of an Indian government official.
In September, Canada had accused Indian agents of killing Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar earlier in 2023 on Canadian soil. The government had instituted a probe into the allegations in the Pannun case as the difficulty escalated between the 2 nations, with lawmakers and Biden administration officers expressing their concern and expectation that India cooperate in the matter. The subject was additionally raised in New Delhi by a number of senior U.S. officers.
At least one of many people involved in the alleged murder-for-hire plot to kill Pannun now not works with the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), in accordance to the Bloomberg report, which attributed the data to unnamed “senior officials” conversant in the difficulty.
The particular person involved is, nonetheless, nonetheless employed by the government and no legal motion has been initiated in opposition to him, the report says.
Donald Lu, the U.S. State Department’s prime diplomat for South and Central Asia, informed U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday that the alleged plot to kill Pannun was “a serious issue” between the 2 nations and that the Biden administration was taking the difficulty “incredibly seriously”.
Mr. Lu was talking at a listening to on ‘Pakistan After the Elections’ organised by a sub-committee of the highly effective U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee. He was requested by the physique’s Ranking Member (i.e. a Democrat) Dean Phillips concerning the “alarming allegations” of Indian government involvement in the plot to kill a “Sikh American, here, on American soil”.
Mr. Lu’s feedback didn’t seem to replicate the most recent reporting across the investigation into the alleged plot as he made no reference to this, saying as an alternative that the U.S. has requested India to work “quickly and transparently” because the investigation proceeds.
“We are at the moment working with India to encourage India to hold accountable those responsible for this terrible crime,” Mr. Lu mentioned.
Indian authorities have knowledgeable the U.S. government concerning the final result of the probe, in accordance to the Bloomberg report.