Pannun murder plot: Panel submits report on activities of terror groups which undermined security interests of India, US

The probe was ordered after the US alleged that there was an attempt to kill Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun by Indian agents.

New Delhi: A high-powered enquiry committee, set up after the attempted murder of Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York, has recommended legal action against an unnamed individual with criminal links and antecedents after a probe established that the person has undermined the security interests of India and the United States.

The probe panel was ordered after the US alleged that Indian intelligence agents tried to murder Pannun in 2023, a charge India had denied. Former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) operative Vikash Yadav was named by the US in connection with the failed assassination attempt on Pannun besides extraditing another Indian national Nikhil Gupta from Czech Republic.

A statement issued by the MHA on Wednesday said the government had set up the probe committee in November 2023 following the US providing information about the activities of some organised criminal groups, terrorist organisations and drug peddlers among others, who undermined the security interests of both India and the US.

The committee conducted its own investigations and also pursued leads provided by the US side, which provided full cooperation. The two sides also exchanged visits, it said adding it also examined a number of officials from different agencies and scrutinised documents in this connection.

"After a long enquiry, the committee has submitted its report to the government and recommended legal action against an individual, whose earlier criminal links and antecedents also came to notice during the enquiry. The enquiry committee has recommended that the legal action must be completed expeditiously," the statement, which did not name the individual, said.

The committee has also recommended functional improvements in systems and procedures as also initiation of steps that could strengthen India’s response capability, ensure systematic controls and coordinated action in dealing with matters like this. The statement did not specify when the report was submitted.

The setting up of the panel came as the US revealed a plot to kill a Sikh separatist while claiming that Indian agents were suspected to be involved. Washington had raised their concerns with India.

Yadav was arrested by Delhi Police in December 2023 in a case of kidnapping and extortion lodged against him and is currently on bail in this case while Gupta was arrested in Prague in 2023 and later extradited to the US.

The US Department of Justice had said that the US agencies uncovered an assassination plot orchestrated by an Indian government employee and Nikhil Gupta, an international narcotics trafficker.

"Gupta is alleged to have orchestrated a dangerous plot to murder a US citizen on US soil," it had said. US court documents claimed that an Indian government employee (without naming Yadav) worked together with Gupta and others in India and elsewhere to direct an assassination plot against "an attorney and political activist, who is a US citizen of Indian origin, on US soil." Pannun has dual citizenship of the US and Canada.

It said CC-1 (Yadav) is an Indian government agency employee who has variously described himself as a “senior field officer” with responsibilities in “security management” and “intelligence” and has referenced previously serving in CRPF and receiving “officer training” in “battle craft” and “weapons.” It claimed CC-1 directed the assassination plot from India.