Indian man charged in US with plotting to murder Sikh militant
Prosecutors in the United States have charged an Indian man with a foiled plot to kill a Sikh militant in New York days after a row between Canada and India over similar accusations.
Last Thursday, the US Justice Department named Vikash Yadav as the Indian intelligence official and charged him for his alleged role in the June 2023 plot to kill Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US citizen.
The Indian government responded, saying that it no longer employed Yadav.
His lawyers insisted on his innocence.
“The accusations are baseless and part of a larger international conspiracy against India,” media quoted lawyer R.K. Handoo as saying.
But US ambassador Eric Garcetti argued Yadav may have crossed a red line. “People in Washington will only be satisfied when accountability is achieved,” he said.
“I’d expect that the Indian system, just like the American system, knows that murder-for-hire plots are illegal and will hold people accountable.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington said the US will pursue Yadav for the plot against the Sikh separatist who on Monday warned of attacks on Air India flights next month.
Pannun, a US citizen, also warned India’s busiest international airport in Delhi will remain closed on 19 November.
Last year, US prosecutors in a first indictment named Yadav as co-conspirator. Weeks later, Yadav was arrested in India in unrelated cases.
Read more on RFI English
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