Federal prosecutors announced that a former Indian government worker was charged with murder-for-hire in New York for his role as the director of a foiled plan to assassinate Sikh separatists and critics of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration.
Vikash Yadav is still at large. He was a former Indian Intelligence Officer.
Nikhil Gupta was charged with the plot and extradited to the U.S.A. in June.
Prosecutors claim that Yadav orchestrated from abroad the plot to kill Gurpatwant Sing Pannun, the leader of Sikhs for Justice in New York, an organization that advocates for the creation of a sovereign Sikh State.
According to court documents, Yadav hired Gupta for the assassination plan. However, the hitman Gupta employed turned out to be an undercover U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Agent.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, an associate of Pannun, was murdered by masked gunmen on June 18, 2023. This happened two days before Modi’s scheduled visit to the United States.
Since that incident, diplomatic relations between India and Canada have been severed.
Gupta said to the “hitman”, “Now there is no need to delay” in killing Pannun.
In a statement released after the charges on Thursday, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland stated that “the Justice Department will be relentless” in bringing to justice anyone who tries to harm or silence American citizens.
Garland stated, “As alleged last year, Vikash Gupta and Nikhil Gupta were involved in an assassination attempt on American soil by Vikash Gupta an Indian government worker.”
