A former Indian government employee has been charged over his alleged role in a foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader residing in New York City, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Oct. 17.
Vikash Yadav, 39, is facing murder-for-hire and money laundering charges but remains at large. The DOJ stated on Thursday that Yadav was an officer at the Indian government’s Research and Analysis Wing.
Yadav’s alleged co-conspirator in the plot, Nikhil Gupta, 53, was previously charged and extradited to the United States after being arrested in the Czech Republic last year, according to the DOJ.
In a press briefing on Oct. 17, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal confirmed that Yadav—who he referred to as “the individual named in the Justice Department indictment”—is no longer employed by the Indian government.
The DOJ did not disclose the name of the U.S. citizen targeted in the alleged murder plot. According to the indictment, the victim is a “vocal critic” of the Indian government and a leader of a U.S.-based organization advocating for the creation of a Sikh sovereign state called Khalistan.
However, a statement later issued by the group in question—Sikhs for Justice—revealed that the victim targeted in the plot was Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the group’s general counsel.
According to the indictment, Yadav recruited Gupta sometime around May of 2023 to plot the assassination of the victim.
Under Yadav’s direction, Gupta contacted someone he believed to be a hitman to kill the victim in New York City. The hitman was actually an undercover officer with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
According to the DOJ, Yadav agreed to pay $100,000 to the undercover DEA officer, as part of dealings brokered by Gupta. Yadav and Gupta sent an associate to deliver $15,000 in advance payment to the DEA officer in Manhattan.
Gupta allegedly told the DEA officer to carry out the murder as soon as possible, but told him to avoid coinciding with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the United States in June 2023.
Gupta told the DEA officer that Nijjar was also one of their many targets, and in light of his killing, there was “now no need to wait” on killing their victim, the DOJ said.
“The attempt on my life on American Soil is the blatant case of India’s transnational terrorism which has become a challenge to America’s sovereignty and threat to freedom of speech and democracy, which unequivocally proves that India believes in using bullets while pro Khalistan Sikhs believe in ballots,” he stated.
