Second Indictment In Pannun Assassination Plot Identifies Vikash Yadav @Vikas @Amanat as Serving RAW Agent At the Time of Conspiracy
FBI Put Out Poster of RAW Agent Vikash Yadav In Pannun Assassination Plot After 10th October Arrest Warrant
Shailesh Kumar, National Defence
New Delhi, 18 October 2024
US Department of Justice on 17th October charged India’s Research And Analysis Wing officer Vikash Yadav in alleged conspiracy plot to assassinate Khalistan advocacy leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. US New York Court for the first time in second superseding indictment revealed details of Indian Government employee identifying him as “Vikash Yadav”, 39, aka “Vikas”, “Amanat”, as co-cosnpirator of “Nikhil Gupta” and charged on 3 counts of ‘murder for hire conspiracy’, ‘murder for hire’ and ‘conspiracy to commit money laundering’. US Federal Bureau of Investigation put out poster of Vikash Yadav giving his place of birth as Pranpura (Rewari District, Tehsil Bawal) in Haryana. The indictment also linked Vikas Yadav, 39, and Nikhil Gupta, 53, with the murder plot of “Hardeep Singh Nijjar” in Canada. Vikas Yadav allegedly worked with Cabinet Secretariat at the rank of Assistant Commandant at the commitment of the alleged crime. Indictment copy shows Vikash Yadav in a military fatigue whereas FBI poster has two other photographs of Yadav. An arrest warrant was issued against Vikash Yadav on 10th October 2024 by Southern District Court of New York.
The indictment reads, “During times relevant to this superseding indictment, Yadav was employed by the Cabinet Secretariat of the Government of India, which houses India’s foreign intelligence service, the Research & Analysis Wing” (RAW). Yadav has described his position as a “Senior Field Officer”, with responsibilities in “Security Management” and “Intelligence”. He also has served in India’s Central Reserve Police Force, India’s largest paramilitary force. Yadav used “Amanat” as an alias and resided in India, and directed the assassination plot from India”.
Vikash Yadav is accused of recruiting Nikhil Gupta in May 2023 for the assassination of pro Khalistani leader and US citizen Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. Nikhil Gupta in turn contacted a criminal identified as “Confidential Source” (CS) of US law enforcement for assistance in contacting a hitmen, who was infact an “Under Cover” (UC) law enforcement officer of USA. Indictment alleged that Yadav provided the address, contact number, GPS location of the ‘Victim’ Pannu and arranged for the advance payment of 15,000 US dollar in Manhattan paid through ‘individual-2’.
However, the indictment has not named individual-1 and indivisual-2. It is also noteworthy that the alleged broker Confidential Source (CS) and the alleged Under Cover (UC) hitmen both belong to US law enforcement.
The fresh and latest indictment alleges that on 18th June 2023, just 2 days prior to PM Modi’s US visit, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, close associate of ‘victim’ Pannun and outspoken critic of Government of India was murderd in Canada by masked gunman outside a Sikh temple (read Gurudwara) in British Columbia. Indictment says, “Later that evening, just hours after the Nijjar murder, Yadav sent Gupta a video clip that showed Nijjar’s body slumped in his (Nijjar’s) vehicle; about an hour later, Yadav sent Gupta the street address of the victim’s residence in New York city. On or about June 19th 2023 , a day after Nijjar murder Gupta told the UC that Nijjar ‘was also the target’ and ‘we have so many targets’.
FBI “wanted” poster reads, “ Vikash Yadav is wanted for allegedly directing a plot to assassinate a United States lawyer and political activist of Indian origin on United States soil. Yadav is an Indian national based in India and used “Amanat” as an alias when communicating with his co-conspirator, another Indian national, to facilitate the murder plot. Yadav allegedly provided information, such as the victim’s residential addresses, phone numbers, and other identifying information, to the Indian national in furtherance of the plot. Yadav and his co-conspirator arranged for an associate to deliver $15,000 in cash in New York, New York, as an advance payment for the murder. A federal arrest warrant was issued for Yadav in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, New York, New York, on October 10, 2024, after he was charged with Murder-For-Hire, Conspiracy to Commit Murder-For-Hire, and Money Laundering Conspiracy”
In a strong worded statement, Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said, “Today’s charges are a grave example of the increase in lethal plotting and other forms of violent transnational repression targeting diaspora communities in the United States”. “To the governments around the world who may be considering such criminal activity and to the communities they would target, let there be no doubt that the Department of Justice is committed to disrupting and exposing these plots and to holding the wrongful actors accountable no matter who they are or where they reside,” he added.
“National Defence” requested a response from India’s Ministry of External Affairs. The same will be updated if MEA chose to respond on second indictment concerning alleged murder plot of Pannun by Indian Government Agent.
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