An Indian government official has been charged with directing a failed plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader in New York City, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.
Vikash Yadav, 39, also known as Vikas and Amanat, is a former officer in the Indian spy agency's Research and Analysis Wing who remains at large, according to an unsealed indictment.
Authorities allege he directed the plot from India.
“The defendant, an Indian government employee, allegedly conspired with a criminal associate to assassinate Americans on U.S. soil for exercising their First Amendment rights,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement. Ta.
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The Justice Department has announced that Vikash Yadav, 39, is suspected of orchestrating a plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader in New York City. (Ministry of Justice)
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Indian embassy in Washington, D.C., for comment on the charges.
The Justice Department said Yadav and other Indian intelligence agents hatched a plot to kill Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Panun in a murder-for-hire plot.
Mr. Panun is a vocal critic of the Indian government and leads a U.S.-based group that advocates for the secession of India's northern state of Punjab, which has a large Sikh population. India has labeled Sikh separatists as “terrorists” who pose a threat to its security.
Yadav's alleged co-conspirator Nikhil Gupta, 52, was arrested in Prague and extradited to the United States in June to face charges. Mr. Yadav is said to have scouted Mr. Gupta to plot the murder in May 2023.
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Nikhil Gupta, 52, an Indian national, is accused of trying to pay for the murder of a Sikh separatist leader in New York City. (Reuters)
Both men are charged with murder for commission, conspiracy to commit murder for commission, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Federal prosecutors said during the plot, Mr. Gupta met with a confidential source working for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), who he believed would introduce him to the killer.
In reality, the alleged killer was an undercover DEA agent. Mr. Gupta urged the killing to be carried out as soon as possible, but not to coincide with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official state visit to the United States, scheduled for around June 20, 2023.
Mr. Gupta said the death of Mr. Panun, an undercover DEA agent, could lead to protests and a “political thing,” adding that there would be geopolitical implications if Mr. Panun was killed on U.S. soil during Modi's visit. He is said to have mentioned the impact.
Two days before Prime Minister Modi arrived in the United States, masked gunmen killed fellow Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia, Canada. “There are a lot of targets,” Gupta allegedly told Nijjar, an undercover DEA agent. “There are a lot of targets.”
“Then they will be given more work,” he said, referring to more targeted killings, prosecutors said.
Around the time of Prime Minister Modi's visit to the US, Mr. Yadav sent Mr. Gupta a news article about Pannun and messaged him: [a] The priority is now,” the prosecutor said.
Activists from the pro-Khalistan group Dal Khalsa Sikh Organization were killed near Vancouver in June 2023 after offering prayers at the Akal Takht Sahib in Amritsar's Golden Temple on September 19. They held demonstrations demanding justice for Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. 29, 2023. (Narinder Nanu/AFP via Getty Images)
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Panun said in a statement that the charges mean the U.S. government “reaffirms its commitment to its fundamental constitutional obligation to protect the life, liberty, and freedom of expression of Americans at home and abroad.” Ta.
“The attempt on my life on American soil is a challenge to American sovereignty and an open incident of cross-border terrorism in India that poses a threat to free speech and democracy. The pro-Khalistan Sikhs clearly prove that they believe in the use of bullets, whereas the pro-Khalistan Sikhs believe in the use of bullets in their ballot papers,” he added.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
