Former Indian Official Charged in Connection With Foiled Plot to Assassinate Sikh Separatist Leader in New York City
- The indictment of Vikash Yadav, 39, of India's Research and Analysis Wing, marks “the first time, that the U.S. has implicated the Indian government directly in a case that has strained relations between Washington and New Delhi.”
The United States has charged a former Indian intelligence officer for allegedly directing a foiled plot to murder a Sikh separatist leader in New York City. The indictment of Vikash Yadav, 39, unsealed yesterday (Oct. 17) by the Department of Justice, alleges that that beginning in May 2023, Yadav, described as a former officer in India’s Research and Analysis Wing spy service, worked together with others in India and abroad to direct a plot against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen. A critic of the Indian government, he is the general counsel for the U.S.-based Sikhs for Justice, which supports the broader Khalistan movement, which calls for an independent homeland for Sikhs. Pannun was designated a terrorist by the Indian government in 2020, an allegation he denies.
The New York Times notes that the indictment, filed in federal court in Manhattan, marks “the first time, that the U.S. has implicated the Indian government directly in a case that has strained relations between Washington and New Delhi.”
Yadav’s alleged co-conspirator, Nikhil Gupta, 53, was previously charged and extradited to the United States. He traveled to Prague from India last June and was arrested by Czech authorities before being extradited to the U.S. where he pleaded not guilty in a court in June, Reuters reported. Yadav, meanwhile, was still in India and the United States was expected to seek his extradition, the Washington Post reported, citing American officials.
“The Justice Department will be relentless in holding accountable any person — regardless of their position or proximity to power — who seeks to harm and silence American citizens,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in a DOJ press release. “As alleged, last year, we foiled an attempt by Vikash Yadav, an Indian government employee, and his co-conspirator, Nikhil Gupta, to assassinate an American citizen on U.S. soil. Today’s charges demonstrate that the Justice Department will not tolerate attempts to target and endanger Americans and to undermine the rights to which every U.S. citizen is entitled.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray said the agency “will not tolerate acts of violence or other efforts to retaliate against those residing in the U.S. for exercising their constitutionally protected rights.”
According to The Washington Post, the indictment “escalates the U.S. effort to hold accountable a major geopolitical ally for what officials say was act of attempted violence on American soil.”While “authorities had refrained from charging Yadav in the 16 months since the alleged assassination plot was thwarted, the decision to do so now follows months of frustration among some Biden administration officials who had privately voiced concerns that India’s probe would amount to a whitewash,” The Post said. It also noted that that the initial hesitance to charge Yadav was “the reluctance to rupture relations with India and while holding out hope that its government would follow through on a commitment to carry out a serious inquiry.”
The charges come on the heels of “a surprise announcement” on Oct. 16 by Canada “that it was expelling six Indian diplomats for alleged involvement in the June 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh activist in British Columbia,” The Post reported. Canadian officials believe that Nijjar’s killing was “a part of a broad campaign of violence against Indian dissidents directed by a senior official in the Indian government,” The Post report added.
The indictment said Yadav had hired Gupta and recruited him “to orchestrate the assassination of the victim in the United States.” At Yadav’s direction, Gupta contacted an individual whom he believed to be a criminal associate, but who was in fact a confidential source (the CS) working with the DEA, for assistance in contracting a hitman to murder the victim in New York City. The CS introduced Gupta to a purported hitman, who was in fact a DEA undercover officer (the UC). Yadav subsequently agreed, in dealings brokered by Gupta, to pay the UC $100,000 to murder the victim. On or about June 9, 2023, Yadav and Gupta arranged for an associate to deliver $15,000 in cash to the UC as an advance payment for the murder. Yadav’s associate then delivered the $15,000 to the UC in Manhattan.
In June 2023, in furtherance of the assassination plot, Yadav provided Gupta with personal information about the victim, including the victim’s home address in New York City, phone numbers associated with the victim, and details about the victim’s day-to-day conduct, which Gupta then passed to the UC. Yadav directed Gupta to provide regular updates on the progress of the assassination plot, which Gupta accomplished by forwarding to Yadav, among other things, surveillance photographs of the victim. Gupta directed the UC to carry out the murder as soon as possible, but Gupta also specifically instructed the UC not to commit the murder around the time of the Indian Prime Minister’s official state visit to the United States, which was scheduled to begin on or about June 20, 2023.
A few days later, approximately two days before the Prime Minister’s state visit to the United States, masked gunmen murdered Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia, Canada. Najjar was an associate of the victim, and, like the victim, was a leader of the Sikh separatist movement and an outspoken critic of the Indian government. On or about June 19, 2023, the day after the Nijjar murder, Gupta told the UC that Nijjar “was also the target” and “we have so many targets.” Gupta added that, in light of Nijjar’s murder, there was “now no need to wait” to kill the Victim. On or about June 20, 2023, Yadav sent Gupta a news article about the victim and messaged Gupta, “[i]t’s [a] priority now.”
Both Yadav and Gupta “have been charged with murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; and conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison,” the DOJ said. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.