The Indian Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday, September 19, dismissed the lawsuit filed by pro-Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun as “unwarranted and unsubstantiated” over the ‘assassination’ attempt against the Indian government in the U.S.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that it doesn’t change India’s views about the underlying situation, now that the case has been lodged.
The United States reiterated that it continues to expect accountability from India regarding the investigation in connection with the alleged assassination attempt on Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
US State Department said Washington continues to raise its ‘concerns’ directly with the Indian government at senior levels.
Nikhil Gupta, the Indian national accused in an alleged murder-for-hire plot involving Khalistani leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the US, has appeared for the first time before the trial judge, as lawyers laid out the preliminary steps.
Federal Senior Judge Victor Marrero set the next court date for September 13 during the brief hearing Friday, at which he ordered the prosecution to share the evidence it had with the defense.
It would be interesting to see if Nikhil Gupta, now in detention in New York, would become the ultimate fall guy for the Indian government or would manage to get a plea deal from U.S. prosecutors to name names of Indian Intelligence officials allegedly involved in a plot to assassinate Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
Nikhil Gupta, an accused in the plot to kill Khalistani separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, pled not guilty in a federal court in Manhattan on Monday, June 17.
Gupta has been accused of plotting to kill Pannun on the orders of the Indian government. He has been charged with murder-for-hire conspiracy.
Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national who is accused of being involved in the alleged failed murder plot of India-designated pro-Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York City, has been extradited from the Czech Republic to the US to stand trial, NBC News reported.
A US District Court spokesperson said Gupta is scheduled to appear in the lower Manhattan courthouse on federal murder-for-hire charges Monday, June 17, the Amercian broadcaster said.
Calling it the “most consequential relationship” that is passing through a “historic era”, US Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, asserted on Tuesday that the ongoing investigation into an alleged plot to assassinate Sikh radical Gurpatwant Singh Pannun will not affect ties between Washington and New Delhi.
The disclosure by The Washington Post of Vikram Yadav as an officer in India’s spy agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) to be behind the thwarted plot to assassinate the U.S.-based Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun has come at a particularly inopportune time for the Narendra Modi government.
India on Tuesday said a report published by Washington Post “made unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations on a serious matter” involving an alleged plot to kill Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a designated Khalistani terrorist in India, has released a video in which he is purportedly heard saying that his group will challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the former Research and Analysis Wing chief Samant Goel, “right in their own backyard.”
US Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti said India and the United States are working together in the investigation of the alleged foiled assassination plot against Khalistani supporter Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, and that a ‘red line’ should not be crossed between the two countries.
Top US diplomat, Donald Lu, has termed the case of the alleged assassination attempt against Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun a “serious issue” between the two countries and said that Washington is working with New Delhi to hold accountable those responsible. The US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Donald Lu, was asked about the issue during a US Congressional hearing on the Pakistan election on Wednesday.
The house of a Sikh separatist, associated with pro-Khalistan leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun who is a designated terrorist in India, has been hit by gunfire in Canada’s Ontario province, a media report said. The incident comes just days after multiple shots were fired at the Surrey home of Simranjeet Singh — a “friend” of banned Khalistan Tiger Force leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a designated terrorist in India, who was shot dead outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia last year.
The leader of pro-Khalistan Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, has warned that the Chief Ministers of Delhi and Punjab will face a “political death” if his associates were not released by next month.
US-based Indian designated Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the founder of the banned Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), has issued fresh threats ahead of India’s Republic Day. Several pictures on social media show pro-Khalistani graffiti in New Delhi. The graffiti contained threats ahead of the Republic Day parade on January 26 with claims that SFJ aims to “avenge” the death of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
The US government has refused to provide “discovery material” after it was asked by a New York court to respond to a motion filed by lawyers of Indian national Nikhil Gupta, named in an alleged plot to assassinate Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
Khalistan separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun continued his incendiary provocation of violence against India on Monday, calling for shutdown of airports from Amritsar to Ayodhya ahead of the January 22 Ram temple Pran Pratishtha (consecration) ceremony.
As tempting as it is to believe, there appears to be no recognizable connection between President Joe Biden’s inability to attend the Republic Day celebrations in India on January 26, 2024, and the tensions between Washington and New Delhi over the stunning allegations of India’s involvement in the plot to assassinate Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
In his first public response to allegations of an Indian national conspiring to murder a Khalistani separatist in New York, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the issue will be examined, but a few incidents cannot derail ties between India and the US.
Indian American Members of Congress have “welcomed” the Indian government’s announcement of a committee of enquiry to probe the alleged foiled assassination plot against India-designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. Ami Bera, Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna, Shri Thanedar and Raja Krishnamoorthi called the allegations made in the indictment of Nikhil Gupta in connection with a foiled plot to assassinate a US citizen “deeply concerning.”
Calling India and the US strategic partners, the White House has reiterated that it wants the plot to kill Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on its soil fully investigated and those behind it be held “properly accountable”. “India is a strategic partner. We are deepening that strategic partnership. They are a member of the Quad in the Pacific and we participate with them on a range of security-related issues and we want to see that continue unabated,” John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House, said on Thursday.
Amid the indictment of an Indian in an alleged foiled assassination plot in the US, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday that Washington opposes any ‘transnational oppression’ across the world while clarifying that the comment wasn’t specific to India.
It would not be surprising if as a broader strategy, U.S. federal prosecutors eventually offer Nikhil Gupta, the Indian national charged with plotting to assassinate Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a plea deal in exchange for naming names of others in the Indian government who might be involved.
India’s High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma said that the Indian government is cooperating with an American investigation into an alleged thwarted assassination attempt of Sikhs For Justice leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun and not Canada’s probe into the June killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia’s Surrey due to a disparity between the information both nations shared in their investigation.
Calling the foiled attempt on his life ‘transnational terrorism’ and threat to US sovereignty, Khalistan leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun said on Thursday that he will let the American government respond to it. The New York-based Pannun’s remarks came a day after Financial Times reported that authorities in the US thwarted a conspiracy to assassinate him and issued a warning to India over concerns that it was involved in the plot.
