America has filed a case against Indian citizen Vikas Yadav for conspiracy to murder Khalistani Gurpatwant Singh Pannu. Apart from conspiracy to murder, Vikas was also accused of money laundering. The US intelligence agency FBI claims that Vikas was associated with Indian intelligence agency RAW.
However, the US State Department claims that the Indian government removed Vikas from his post and arrested him. However, India is yet to comment on this claim by the FBI and the US State Department. Vikas was the first in America. He had come to India some time ago. He resides in Pranapura village in Rewari district of the state of Haryana. News of his arrest broke on October 10.
The US court had indicted two people in the conspiracy to murder Pannu. This included Nikhil Gupta and a person named CC1. The FBI has now identified CC1 as Vikas Yadav. America had already arrested Nikhil Gupta from the Czech Republic.
The American intelligence agency FBI published this photo of Vikas Yadav on its website.
“Vikas gave all the information about Pannu to Nikhil” The FBI said in the indictment that Vikas implicated Nikhil Gupta in this plot and gave instructions in which he had complete information about Pannu. This included Pannu’s address, mobile number and all his daily activities.
It was only after this that Gupta contacted a criminal, whom he considered to be a hitman, to murder Pannu. However, he was actually an undercover agent for the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The FBI claims that Yadav had planned to pay $1 lakh (around Rs 83 lakh) for the murder.
America has rejected Trudeau’s claim: Vikas has no connection to Nijjar murder… After India’s name came up in the plot to assassinate Pannu, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had claimed that CC1 was also involved in Nijjar’s murder. But America rejected it. The US State Department says the development has no connection to the Nijjar massacre in Canada.
The FBI’s assertion comes at a time when relations between Canada and India are strained. Canada had accused Indian diplomats of being involved in Nijjar’s murder. After this, India recalled its 6 diplomats including the High Commissioner. Additionally, India has also asked Canadian diplomats to leave India by October 21.
What is the case of conspiracy to assassinate Pannu? Indian national Nikhil Gupta was arrested by the Czech Republic Police on June 30, 2023 for conspiring to murder Pannu. After this, Nikhil was extradited to America on June 14, 2024. A case was tried against Nikhil in America, where he declared himself innocent.
According to US agencies, the plot to kill Pannu was hatched during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to America in September last year. A former Indian officer (Vikas Yadav) had asked Nikhil Gupta to plot Pannu’s murder.
News agency Reuters had published this sketch of Nikhil during his stay in the courtroom.
When, what happened in the Pannu case, complete the timeline according to the indictment…
May 2023: According to the American prosecutor, an Indian officer (Vikas Yadav) hired Nikhil Gupta.May 29: Nikhil Gupta started looking for someone who could kill Pannu. However, the person hired to kill Pannu turns out to be an undercover agent of America. For a few weeks, Nikhil Gupta discussed with this undercover agent the method and cost of killing Pannu.June 9: Gupta sent $15,000 in cash (Rs 12 lakh 49,000) through a person to the hitman hired to kill Pannu. This was an advance for the murder. The entire deal was done for $1 lakh (Rs 84 lakh).June 11: The Indian officer told Gupta that Pannu could not be killed yet. In June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi toured the United States. Gupta had also said over the phone that nothing could be done for 10 days or else the protests would begin.June 18: Terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was killed in Canada.June 19: Gupta sent the video of Nijjar’s murder to the hitman hired to assassinate Pannu in America and said it was good news, there was no need to wait now.June 24 to June 29: Gupta continued the plan to kill Pannu. Monitoring of Pannu began.June 30: Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic at America’s request.
Khalistani supporters protest against India in Canada. Gurpatwant Singh Pannu is accused of organizing demonstrations in support of Khalistan in Canada and of having financially supported Khalistan supporters in India.
Who is Gurpatwant Singh Pannu?
Gurpatwant Singh Pannu hails from Khankot, Punjab. He currently lives in America and runs an organization called Sikh for Justice. He has American and Canadian citizenship. In 2019, the Indian government banned Pannu’s SFJ organization under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act i.e. UAPA for terrorist activities. Under the cover of a referendum for Sikhs, the SFJ supported separatism and extremist ideology in Punjab. In 2020, Pannu was accused of promoting separatism and encouraging young Sikhs in Punjab to take up arms. After this, on July 1, 2020, the central government declared Pannu a terrorist under the UAPA. According to media reports, this was the main target of this alleged plot. However, this is not mentioned in the FBI indictment.
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