A new report links India’s government to a failed 2023 assassination attempt against an American citizen who is a critic of India’s government.
According to The Washington Post, India’s espionage agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, coordinated a team to assassinate Sikh activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American citizen.
The report said intelligence agency officer Vikram Yadav called the operation a “priority now,” and that as soon as details about the subject’s location was available “it will be a go ahead from us.”
The Post report said the plotting was taking place even as President Joe Biden was orchestrating a lavish June 22 reception at the White House for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The report said U.S. intelligence agencies “assess” that the plot was likely known to Modi’s national security adviser, Ajit Doval, but noted that “no smoking gun proof has emerged.”
However, the report noted that “U.S. and Western security officials said it is unlikely that RAW would have launched such operations without a clear understanding that doing so would be met with approval by the prime minister.”
BREAKING: Washington Post reports that Indian spy Vikram Yadav directed assassination plots against Sikh activists in the U.S. and Canada on orders from intel chief Samant Goel, stunning officials. CIA assesses NSA Doval likely knew, possibly Modi. India stalls probe, refusing to… pic.twitter.com/wRO0Z2X3pk
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According to a report from WNBC-TV in New York, Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram said the DEA foiled the assassination after the foreign agent trying to kill Pannun hired a drug trafficker for the execution.
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“When we were made aware of the fact that the defendant in this case had credibly indicated that he was directed to arrange the murder by an individual who is assessed to be an employee of the Indian Government, we took this information very seriously and engaged in direct conversations with the Indian government at the highest levels to express our concern,” White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement, according to NBC.
The Post report said India has been aggressive about assassinations in North America, and linked Indian government officials to the June 18 killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada.
Last year, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said India was responsible for the assassination, according to the CBC.
“Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the Government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar,” Trudeau said in a House of Commons speech in September, the CBC reported.
“Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty. It is contrary to the fundamental rules by which free, open and democratic societies conduct themselves,” he said.
According to The New York Times, Modi “completely rejected” the accusations.
The Post quoted what it said was a “Western security official” as saying India can risk assassinations on American soil “because they knew they could get away with it.”
India’s Ministry of External Affairs has not made an official comment on the Post report. Randhir Jaiswal, a representative of the ministry, said assassinations are “not our policy.”
Although the Post report said an indictment unsealed in November said the assassination plot against Pannun was directed by an Indian official, the only charges brought to date involved Nikhil Gupta, a middleman in the operation.
