The US authorities “averted” an attempt to kill India-designated terrorist and Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, according to the UK media. A news report published in Financial Times claimed that the US had protested to India about the alleged conspiracy, shortly after PM Narendra Modi’s state visit to Washington in June.
According to report, the people familiar with the case, who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the intelligence that prompted the warning, did not say whether the protest to New Delhi led the plotters to abandon their plan, or whether the FBI intervened and foiled a scheme already in motion.
Besides a diplomatic demarche, the report said US federal prosecutors had filed a sealed indictment against at least one alleged perpetrator in a district court. The US Department of Justice is weighing whether to make the allegations public or wait until Canada finishes its investigation into Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder.
The report said one person charged in the indictment might have left the US but did not say whether there were others.
There was no official comment from the US DoJ, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Council (NSC).
The report did not specify whether the conspiracy was abandoned or foiled. Pannu was in the news here after the National Investigation Agency booked him for asking Sikhs not to fly on Air India planes because it was “life threatening”.
“It has been raised by the U.S. Government with the Indian Government, including at the senior-most levels,” NSC spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in the statement when asked about the FT report.
“Indian counterparts expressed surprise and concern. They stated that activity of this nature was not their policy. Based on discussion with senior U.S. Government officials, we understand the Indian government is further investigating this issue and will have more to say about it in the coming days,” Watson said, adding that the Biden administration had “conveyed our expectation that anyone deemed responsible should be held accountable.”
