FBI chief in Delhi meets CBI counterpart amid US allegation against India over Pannun killing plot

The high-profile visit is taking place in the backdrop of Washington's allegations about an Indian link to a foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on the American soil.

New Delhi: The chief of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Christopher Wray, commenced his visit to New Delhi on Monday amid the row over allegations by Washington DC about the involvement of an official of the Government of India in a plot to assassinate Khalistani Sikh extremist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in America.

Wray had a meeting with Praveen Sood, the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), at the headquarters of the premier probe agency of India.

The meeting between Wray and Sood focused on strengthening the exchange of information on criminal matters, for improved coordination in combating transnational crimes and sharing of expertise in the investigation of technology-enabled crimes.

“Both agencies recognised the challenges posed by organised crime networks, cyber-enabled financial crimes, ransomware threats, economic crimes and transnational crimes,” the CBI stated in a press release issued after the meeting between chiefs of the two organizations. The need to expedite sharing of evidence and for closer assistance in bringing criminals and fugitives to face justice was discussed. It was also discussed to exchange best practices of the FBI Academy in Quantico and the CBI Academy in Ghaziabad, according to the press release issued in New Delhi.

Both agencies agreed to look forward to future interactions and collaborative initiatives.

The FBI chief’s visit followed the US Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jonathan Finer’s tour to New Delhi last week. The back-to-back visits by the senior officials of President Joe Biden’s administration to New Delhi came amid speculation over the implication on the bilateral relations of the allegation by the US Department of Justice that an official of the Government of India had been involved in a plot to assassinate Pannun, a leader of the secessionist Sikhs for Justice, in New York.

The allegation by Washington DC against New Delhi followed a similar claim by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government in Ottawa about the role of India in the June 18 killing of a Khalistani Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar at the parking lot of a gurdwara at Surrey in the British Columbia province of Canada.

New Delhi launched a probe in the wake of the allegation by Washington DC that an official of the Government of India had engaged Nikhil Gupta, an Indian arrested from the Czech Republic by the US authorities, to hire a hitman to kill the secessionist Sikhs for Justice leader in New York. It had earlier dismissed the allegation by Trudeau’s Government in Ottawa about its role in the killing of Nijjar, who had been wanted for terrorism in India.

Trudeau’s allegation, however, triggered a diplomatic row, with both sides expelling each other’s diplomats and issuing tit-for-tat travel advisories. India called Canada a haven for terrorists and suspended issuing visas for Canadians.

It, however, recently restarted issuing certain categories of visas for the citizens of Canada. New Delhi also made Ottawa downsize its high commission in the national capital of India and its consulates in other cities, leading to the departure of 41 diplomats of Canada.