US Describes Pannun As 'Victim, Attorney & Activist', Indictment Doesn't Point to Indian Government Hand

The US goes largely silent on Gurpatwant Pannun's subversive activities from American soil against India like death threats to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Image: PTI File)

The US has claimed that the plot was to lure Pannun to a place where he could be easily executed, but later the plan changed amid urgency to target Pannun “at his house, office or the café he visited.”

‘A victim, an Attorney and a political activist’ – this is how the US has described Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in a long indictment document regarding a plot to allegedly assassinate him, going largely silent on his subversive activities from American soil against India like death threats to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The indictment document has not pointed to any Indian government hand in the assassination plot, largely pinning the blame on a former Indian government official Vikash Yadav and a private individual, Nikhil Gupta. This is in stark contrast to the Canadian government stance of directly blaming the Indian government for alleged assassination plots in Canada, without furnishing any credible proof. India has said that Yadav acted on his own accord, and it is co-operating with US.

The US indictment claims the initial plan of Yadav and Gupta was to approach Pannun under the guise of obtaining legal advice and lure him to a place “where he could be more easily executed”. But later, the plan changed to target Pannun “at his house, office or the café he visited”. US claims it foiled the assassination plot by arresting Gupta in Czech Republic. Visual evidence in the form of money exchanging hands as advance payment, and electronic evidence is part of the indictment.

How US Describes Pannun

“The victim (Pannun), is a vocal critic of the Government of India and leads a US-based organization that advocates for the secession of Punjab, a state in the northern part of India, that is home to a large population of Sikhs, an ethnoreligious minority group in India. The victim has publicly called for some or all of Punjab to secede from India and establish a Sikh sovereign state, called Khalistan, and the Government of India has banned the victim and his separatist organization from India,” the indictment document has mentioned.

Plot Gone Wrong?

The indictment claims Yadav involved Gupta in the plot who in turn contacted a criminal associate in the US, who was in fact a “confidential source” (CS) working with the US law enforcement authorities. The assistance of CS was allegedly sought to contract a hitman for the job, and CS put Gupta in touch with an undercover US law enforcement officer. The deal was struck at $1,00,000 and $15000 was paid in advance on June 9 to this hitman through an associate of Yadav, US said.

Gupta is described by the US as someone involved in international narcotics and weapons trafficking. The indictment makes it clear that the US, through the entire operation, was building up evidence against Yadav and Gupta regarding the assassination plot, which has now been revealed in the document. Pannun’s home address, phone numbers and details about his day-to-day conduct were shared by Yadav with Gupta and passed on to the hitman, the indictment said.

Plan change in June

While the initial plan was to lure Pannun to a place where he could be easily executed, the indictment says that there was an element of urgency in June as Yadav and Gupta were pressing upon the CS and hitman to “finish the job, don’t take much time”. A GPS application was used to carry out surveillance on Pannun, the indictment claimed. The US has said the plan was further accelerated after the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a close associate of Pannun, in Canada on June 18.

The indictment says the hitman was told to then go ahead and eliminate Pannun “even today, tomorrow – as early as possible. Gupta allegedly told the hitman to expect Pannun “to be more careful in the wake of the Nijjar murder.”

“He will be more cautious, because in Canada, his colleague is down. So he will be more cautious, so we should not given them the chance. If he is not alone, if there are two guys with him in the meeting or something…put everyone down,” Gupta is said to have told the hitman, as per the indictment.

A deadline of June 29 was also fixed for the job, the US said. The new instruction, the indictment said, was to assassinate Pannun “as soon as it could be verified that he was at his residence” and the hitman was asked to be ready for “both the locations – either home or office”.

The US said it ultimately foiled the plot and Gupta was arrested on June 30.