Islamabad/Washington (TDI) :The United States has charged a former Indian intelligence officer for ordering a busted plot to kill an American citizen advocating for Khalistan movement to establish an independent state.
Murder-for-hire and money laundering charges were registered against Vikash Yadav for trying to kill US citizen Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, BBC reported on Friday.
In case of Yadav, Indian government was implicated directly in the attempted assassination of a dissident for the first time.
The Indian officials say they are cooperating with the US in investigation of the charges, according to BBC. But it is silent on the specific charges against Yadav yet, the report said.
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Earlier, an Indian national, Nikhil Gupta, was also charged in the case.
Washington has also blamed Indian agents for involvement in an assassination attempt on Pannun, a dual US-Canadian citizen. India consider Pannun a terrorist without evidences, though he denies the allegation.
On Thursday, India’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, stated that the individual referred to as “CC-1” in the US Justice Department’s indictment is no longer employed by the Indian government.
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However, BBC report said, he declined to clearly identify name or refer Yadav that creates confusion.
Yadav was the mastermind behind the plot to murder Pannun and he recruited Gupta in May 2023 to for the assassination in exchange for getting a case against him in India dismissed, according to the indictment.
The indictment also describes Yadav as part of the Government of India’s cabinet secretariat, supervising, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) – top intelligence agency in the country.
Recently, ties between Canada and India deteriorated over the same issue as Canadian police alleged that India was involved in assassination of its citizens supporting Khalistan, a proposed independent state to be carved out of India.
Few years back, Pakistan arrested Kulbashan Jadhav, an alleged former Indian Navy officer and Raw operative involving in sabotage, killings and terrorism in Pakistan.
