U.S. blames Indian official for assassination plot against Khalistani separatist
Washington (PTI): The US sent its two top intelligence officials to India to press for an investigation into an alleged plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader on American soil earlier this year and hold to account those responsible, an influential American media outlet reported on Wednesday, citing senior administration officials.
The explosive allegations, contained in a U.S. Department of Justice indictment that was publicly released on Wednesday, accuse a senior Indian intelligence official, as yet unnamed but referred to as CC-1, of masterminding the assassination plot. The report came on a day when India said that it has constituted a high-level enquiry committee to probe allegations relating to a conspiracy to kill the Sikh extremist on American soil.
According to the indictment filed by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the unnamed Indian official was a “Senior Field Officer”, with responsibilities in “Security Management” and “Intelligence,” and had communicated with Mr. Gupta from May 2023, asking him to help arrange Mr. Pannun’s murder.
“CC-1 was employed at all times relevant to this Indictment by the Indian government, resides in India, and directed the assassination plot from India,” the indictment says. It contains detailed accounts of the telephone communications between “CC-1” and “Gupta”, including hiring a hit-man on the promise of a final payment of up to $150,000 for the killing, and sharing details of Mr. Pannun’s whereabouts as well as his residence location. The communications quoted even said that, in June, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was due in Washington for a State visit, Mr. Gupta was told to “calm everything” for about 10 days, but otherwise was told to organise the “execution” at the earliest possible date.
The United States has discovered a plot to assassinate a separatist Sikh leader on the US soil, the Post reported. It added that the issue has been raised by top leadership including President Joe Biden and CIA Director William J Burns and they have demanded New Delhi to hold those accountable for it.
"Gupta allegedly conspired with a number of others, at least one of whom is believed to be an official in India," The Post reported citing anonymous sources from the Biden Administration. The plot was foiled in June by the Drug Enforcement Administration, shortly after a Sikh separatist in Canada was assassinated.
"The discovery of a plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist on US soil earlier this year so concerned the Biden administration that it dispatched its top two intelligence officials to New Delhi to demand the Indian government investigate and hold to account those responsible," a senior administration official was quoted as saying by the daily.
CIA Director William J. Burns and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines were the two officials.
“The defendant [Nikhil Gupta] conspired from India to assassinate, right here in New York City, a U.S. citizen of Indian origin who has publicly advocated for the establishment of a sovereign state for Sikhs, an ethnoreligious minority group in India,” U.S. Attorney Damien Williams said, in a press release issued by the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. “We will not tolerate efforts to assassinate U.S. citizens on U.S. soil, and stand ready to investigate, thwart, and prosecute anyone who seeks to harm and silence Americans here or abroad,” Mr. Williams added.
The charges against Gupta, who is not in the United States, will build on a bare-bones indictment, filed in mid-June and unsealed in July, which alleged that Gupta coordinated a USD15,000 advance payment to a purported hit man's associate, according to the people familiar with the matter, the daily claimed.
That document gives no indication of who the intended victim was; additional details will be contained in what is known as a superseding indictment, it said.
On Wednesday, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said the US side shared some "inputs" pertaining to nexus between organised criminals, gun runners and terrorists and that India takes such inputs seriously since they impinge on "our national security interests as well" and that relevant departments were examining the issue.
India constituted a high-level enquiry committee on November 18 to look into all the relevant aspects of the matter, he said.
The daily reported that Biden himself raised the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their meeting held on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in New Delhi in September.
"Indian counterparts expressed surprise and concern" when confronted by the allegations, National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said last week, when the news of the foiled plan broke. "They stated that activity of this nature was not their policy," Watson was quoted as saying by the daily.
In a statement to The Washington Post, Pannun claimed "India wants to kill me for running the Khalistan referendum campaign."
The filing of new charges could complicate the Biden administration's efforts to deepen strategic ties with India as a counterweight to China, The Washington Post reported. "There's little to be gained diplomatically from attempting to shame this Indian government and lots to lose," Daniel Markey, a senior adviser on South Asia at the United States Institute of Peace, told the daily.
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Adityanath meets Singapore Deputy PM; assures investors of biz-focussed policies in UP
Singapore/Lucknow (PTI): Uttar Pradesh is ready with land bank, business-focused policies and safety and security, Chief Minister Adityanath told investors in Singapore on Tuesday on a day he met the country's top leaders, including Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong.
On the second day of his official visit to Singapore, Adityanath met the country's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong, and Coordinating Minister for National Security and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, official sources said here.
Held in the presence of a high-level delegation, the discussions focused on leveraging Singapore's expertise in urban planning, internal security architecture and digital governance to help Uttar Pradesh achieve the target of becoming a one-trillion-dollar economy.
During talks with Gan Kim Yong, the chief minister emphasised on UP's pro-business environment and highlighted the state's vast land bank and improved connectivity expected from after the Noida International Airport becomes operational.
The meeting also explored the possibility of Singaporean companies establishing industrial townships in the Delhi-NCR, with particular focus on semiconductor manufacturing and green hydrogen modules.
During his interaction with K Shanmugam, Adityanath discussed modernisation of the state's law and order framework, with emphasis on Singapore's technology-integrated policing model and disaster management protocols.
Speaking to investors, Adityanath listed infrastructure, logistics, MROs among other projects in the pipeline in the state, and said he held more than 100 meetings with the business community during his visit to Singapore.
The UP CM also noted that Singapore investors were committed to a large number of projects in India and UP, including the Ganga Expressway.
Business leaders Adityanath met included CEO and chairpersons of Temasek, Government Investment Corp (GIC), Singapore Airport Terminal Services, and Blackstone.
