On Saturday (19th April), the former law firm partner of pro-Khalistani Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general in charge of civil rights in the US Department of Justice, was seen dog-whistling against an Indian-origin FBI special agent.
The development came two days after the FBI field office in Sacramento arrested a terrorist named Harpeet Singh, who was responsible for carrying out attacks in the Punjab State of India.
“Linked to two international terrorist groups, he entered the U.S. illegally and used burner phones to evade capture,” tweeted FBI Sacramento on Thursday (17th April).
Today, Harpreet Singh, an alleged terrorist responsible for terror attacks in Punjab, India, was arrested by the #FBI & #ERO in Sacramento. Linked to two international terrorist groups, he entered the U.S. illegally and used burner phones to evade capture. pic.twitter.com/vObj2xPa8Q
— FBI Sacramento (@FBISacramento) April 18, 2025
John-Paul S Deol is a partner at Dhillon Law Group Inc., which was founded by pro-Khalistani Harmeet Dhillon in 2006. Dhillon left the firm in 2025 after being appointed the assistant attorney general in charge of civil rights in the US Department of Justice by Donald Trump.
Deol, the now ex-partner of Harmeet Dhillon, was seen dog-whistling against Indian-origin Siddhartha Patel, the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Sacramento Field Office.
Given that the particular FBI office had arrested a Khalistani terrorist (Harpeet Singh in this case), Deol was insinuating that it must be the handiwork of an Indian-origin FBI agent supposedly working for Indian interests against Khalistani cause.
“Accha? (Okay),” he tweeted alongside a picture of Patel. Deol thus shrewdly painted a target on the head of the Indian-origin FBI agent by unleashing pro-Khalistani extremists on his way.
After being called out for his dog-whistling (here and here), the former partner of Harmeet Dhillon quietly deleted his tweet.
Deol later tried to rationalise his actions by claiming that FBI Sacramento itself has posted about its special agent.
Screengrab of the tweet of John-Paul S Deol
“Someone, quick, advise the FBI that they posted the name and picture of their Special Agent in Charge and that it’s been out there for a year,” he tweeted.
Appointment of Harmeet Dhillon in Trump 2.0 cabinet
Harmeet K. Dhillon had long been accused of being a terror sympathiser and harbouring Khalistani sentiments—an extremist ideology that uses violence as a tool to push its objectives and calls for the secession of the Punjab state from India and the establishment of an independent Sikh-majority Khalistan.
Nothing corroborates her pro-Khalistan bent more starkly than her stance on the Khalistani Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing.
In March 2024, she quoted The Economist report on how Indian migrants were helping PM Narendra Modi in campaigning at home and lobbying for India abroad.
Quoting the report, Dhillon repeated the baseless accusations that the Indian government is assassinating critics in the diaspora.
