The United States has indicted a former Indian intelligence officer for allegedly directing a plot to kill a Sikh separatist in New York City last year.
The indictment against Vikash Yadav was ordered to be unsealed on Thursday, according to court records. Records show that Yadav is a former officer in India’s spy agency, the Research and Analysis Wing. He remains at large.
The murder-for-hire plot last year announced charges against Nikhil Gupta, who was scouted by then-unidentified Indian government officials to plot the assassination of Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Panun. It was revealed for the first time by federal prosecutors. US citizen.
“The FBI will not tolerate acts of violence or other acts of retaliation against U.S. residents who exercise their constitutionally protected rights,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.
An Indian government committee investigating India’s involvement in the botched killing plot met with U.S. officials in Washington on Tuesday, which Washington said was productive.
The US had asked India to investigate the US Justice Department’s claims that Indian intelligence officials directed the plot to assassinate Panun.
On Wednesday, the State Department announced that U.S. and Indian officials investigating the thwarted murder plot held a “productive” meeting in Washington.
The release of the indictment comes after Canada expelled six Indian diplomats for linking them to the 2023 murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil. It was done a day later. India also ordered the expulsion of Canadian diplomats and denied Canada’s claims.
On Wednesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India of violating Canada’s sovereignty, saying Indian authorities were involved in a campaign of violence against Sikh activists, including “drive-by shootings, They included home invasions, violent extortion, and even murders at home and abroad.” Canada”.
The accusations have tested Washington and Ottawa’s relationship with India, which is often seen as a counterweight to China by Western powers.
India has labeled Sikh separatists “terrorists” and a threat to the country’s security. Sikh separatists demand an independent homeland known as Khalistan to be carved out of India. In the 1980s and 1990s, riots broke out in India, killing tens of thousands of people.
