On Thursday, November 30, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken remarked on the charges against an Indian national for his alleged involvement in a “foiled plot” to murder Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun saying that Washington takes the allegations “very seriously.” He added that the Indian government’s decision to probe the matter was “good and appropriate”.
Speaking to reporters in Tel Aviv, Blinken said that the US government has raised the matter directly with the Indian government in the past weeks.
Asked about the US charging an Indian national in murder for hire scheme targeting a Sikh separatist, Blinken said, “With regard to India, first, this is an ongoing legal matter. So you’ll understand I can’t comment on it in detail. I can say that this is something we take very seriously. A number of us have raised this directly with the Indian Government in past weeks. The government announced today that it was conducting an investigation, and that’s good and appropriate, and we look forward to seeing the results.”
US Secretary of State Blinken on Pannu case:
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) December 1, 2023
-Legal matter
-This is something we take very seriously
-Raised this directly with the Indian Government in past weeks
-India announced an investigation, it's good and appropriate, look forward to seeing the results pic.twitter.com/1bQLMve3ed
Meanwhile, when asked about the indictment of an Indian national in a ‘plot-to-kill’ Khalistani terrorist Pannun, White House official John Kirby said on Friday that India remains a strategic partner of the US and that the US will continue to work to improve and strengthen the partnership with India, but the allegations of the assassination plot are very serious.
“India remains a strategic partner and we are going to continue to work to improve and strengthen that strategic partnership with India. At the same time, we take this very seriously. These allegations and this investigation take it very seriously. And we’re glad to see that the Indians are too by announcing their own efforts to investigate this. And we’ve been clear that we want to see anybody that’s responsible for these alleged crimes to be held properly accountable,” Kirby said.
#WATCH | NSC Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby says, "…India remains a strategic partner and we are going to continue to work to improve and strengthen that strategic partnership with India. At the same time, we take this very seriously. These allegations and this… pic.twitter.com/HiuoFSXR4g
— ANI (@ANI) November 30, 2023
This comes after US Justice Department filed an indictment against an Indian national for his alleged involvement in a foiled plot to assassinate a US-based Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York.
The US Justice Department has claimed that an Indian government employee (named CC-1), who was not identified in the indictment filed in a federal court in Manhattan, recruited an Indian national named Nikhil Gupta to hire a hitman to carry out the assassination, which was foiled by U.S. authorities, according to prosecutors.
As reported earlier, Gupta is currently in custody and has been charged with murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Czech authorities had arrested and detained Gupta on June 30, pursuant to the bilateral extradition treaty between the United States and the Czech Republic.
