US Names Indian Officials Involved in Pannun's Murder Plot

On 29 Apr, The Washington Post published the name of Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) official Vikram Yadav who instructed Indian national Nikhil Gupta to hire a team to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in June 2023. Until now, this person was referred to as CC-1 in the US govt. charges in a New York Court in November 2023 (SDW Vol. 1 Issue 12, Story 1). The Post added that the operation targeting Pannun was approved by the RAW chief at the time, Samant Goel. Goel is a Panjab cadre officer since 1984 and retired from RAW on 30 Jun 2023. The report is based on ‘interviews with more than three dozen current and former senior officials’ in India and other countries. It speculated that India's National Security Agency (NSA) advisor Ajit Doval 'was probably aware of RAW’s plans to kill Sikh activists.’ Neither Doval nor Goel responded to messages seeking comment. India’s Ministry of External Affairs declined to respond to detailed questions submitted and has now termed the report ‘unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations’. Yadav is supposedly a mid-career professional. Since the US made the assassination plot public, Yadav has disappeared. India has earlier stated their officer had gone ‘rogue’ (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 13, Story 1). While the US Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation pushed to prosecute Yadav and implicate RAW in the conspiracy, the indictment made no mention of RAW. Gupta is still in a Czech jail, pending extradition. Earlier this month, The Guardian published a story on how the Indian govt. ordered killings in Pakistan. That India would pursue lethal operations in North America has stunned Western security officials and the Sikh diaspora.