In a press statement released on Wednesday, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) informed that a high-powered committee that was formed by the central government to investigate the US allegations of an assassination attempt on Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun has submitted its report. The report has recommended legal action against an unnamed individual accused of the alleged plot.
“After a long enquiry, the Committee has submitted its report to the government and recommended legal action against an individual, whose earlier criminal links and antecedents also came to notice during the enquiry. The Enquiry Committee has recommended that the legal action must be completed expeditiously”, the MHA press statement said.
“The Enquiry Committee conducted its own investigations and also pursued the leads provided by the US side. It received full cooperation from the US authorities and the two sides also exchanged visits. The Committee further examined a number of officials from different agencies and also scrutinised relevant documents in this connection”, it added.
The Committee has further recommended functional improvements in systems and procedures as well as initiation of steps that could strengthen India’s response capability, and ensure systematic controls and coordinated action in dealing with matters like this.
The Indian government constituted the committee in November 2023 to investigate the inputs shared by the US on the alleged failed assassination plot of Pannun. The committee travelled to the US on October 15 last year as part of the investigation to take inputs from the US authorities concerning the matter.
The US authorities had named Vikash Yadav, said to be a former officer of the Indian intelligence agency RAW, in connection with the alleged assassination plot. The Indian government however clarified in October last year that the individual named by the US in the matter was no longer an employee of the government of India.
The US Justice Department had reportedly claimed in an indictment filed in a federal court in Manhattan that an unidentified Indian government employee named (CC-1) recruited an Indian national named Nikhil Gupta to hire an assassin to kill Pannu. Gupta was detained in Prague in June 2023 and was extradited to the US in June 2024.
The US allegations regarding the failed assassination of Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in November 2023 came months after then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged the involvement of Indian officials in the murder of Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.