Just days ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US, a major controversy has erupted following a US federal court issuing summons against the Indian Government and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval among others over a civil lawsuit filed by Khalistan leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), however, said these were based on “completely unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations”. Modi will be in the US from September 21 to 23.
The summons were issued by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. It names the Indian Government, Doval, former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) Samant Goel, R&AW official Vikram Yadav and Indian businessman Nikhil Gupta.
In November 2023, US prosecutors had charged Gupta with a plot to kill at least four Sikh separatists in the US, including Pannun. Gupta has pleaded “not guilty” in a US court. They alleged that Gupta was recruited in May 2023 to orchestrate the plot.
The US had alleged that Gupta had paid $100,000 (approximately Rs 80 lakh) to a hitman to kill Pannun, who holds dual citizenship of the US and Canada.
The US had alleged that directions were issued to Gupta by an Indian Government official, who was not named or charged.
Asked about the summons, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said these did not change India’s views about the underlying situation.
Misri said, “As we’ve said earlier, these are completely unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations. Now that this particular case has been lodged, it doesn’t change our views about the underlying situation. I would only invite your attention to the person (Pannun) behind this particular case whose antecedents are well known,” he said.
Misri, without naming the banned Sikhs for Justice, said the organization represented by Pannun was an unlawful entity, which had been declared as such under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967.
Misri said, “The organisation has been banned on account of its involvement in anti-national and subversive activities aimed at disrupting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India.”
