NEW DELHI: India on Thursday dismissed as “unwarranted” a civil lawsuit filed in a US court by pro-Khalistan activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun that claimed the government and senior officials were involved in a plot to assassinate him on American soil.
The so-called “murder for hire” plot came to light when US prosecutors filed an indictment in a federal court in Manhattan last November against Indian national Nikhil Gupta, alleging he worked with an unnamed Indian official on a move to assassinate Pannun, already declared a terrorist by India.
The Indian side has set up a high-level inquiry committee to investigate inputs provided by the US on the matter, though its findings haven’t been made public. Several officials were removed from their positions in India’s external intelligence agency in connection with the matter.
When foreign secretary Vikram Misri was asked at a media briefing about the civil lawsuit filed in the US by Pannun, the general counsel of the outlawed Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), he said the allegations made by the pro-Khalistan activist were “unwarranted and unsubstantiated”.
“As we have 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,” he said, referring to the activities of Khalistani elements in the US and other countries.
Without naming Pannun, Misri pointed out that the antecedents of the person behind the lawsuit “are well known”. He said: “I would also underline the fact that the organisation…that this person represents is an unlawful organisation, has been declared as such under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967.”
The SFJ, he said, was outlawed because of its “involvement in anti-national and subversive activities aimed at disrupting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India”. He added: “I don’t want to say anything more than that at this point in time. I think that speaks for itself.”
Pannun named the Indian government, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief Samant Goel, former RAW officer Vikram Yadav and Nikhil Gupta in the lawsuit filed in the district court of the southern district of New York and sought financial compensation.
The Indian side has repeatedly flagged the activities of Pannun and other pro-Khalistan leaders to the governments of Canada and the US, including actions inciting violence against Indian diplomats and diplomatic missions in those countries.
Responding to a separate question on whether the Indian side will raise the activities of pro-Khalistan elements during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US this week, Misri said the two sides will discuss all “mutual concerns”.