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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She is gone, the music lives on: Sorrow and song as Asha Bhosle cremated with state honours
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Mumbai (PTI): "Abhi Na Jaao Chhodkar..." The strains of that wistful song played in the background at the Shivaji Park crematorium on Monday as hundreds of people gathered inside, and outside, to bid music legend Asha Bhosle a final sayonara.
A gun salute rang out as the last rites of Bhosle, perhaps the last of the singing greats who ruled the soundwaves for decades and still do, were held in accordance with Hindu rituals and with full state honours. Her son Anand performed the rituals.
Bhosle, one half of the legendary Mangeshkar sisters, passed away on Sunday due to multi-organ failure. She was 92 as was her Lata didi when she died in February 2022.
Priests recited mantras around the funeral pyre, decorated with vibrant yellow and orange marigolds.
Granddaughter Zanai was inconsolable. Sister Usha Mangeshkar, also a singer, and brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar, a music composer, were there too.
Among those gathered to pay their last respects to India's singer nonpareil were Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar, director Ramesh Sippy and actors Aamir Khan and Vicky Kaushal.
It was a moment of sorrow and song too.
Before the pyre was lit, singers Shaan, Sudesh Bhosle and Anup Jalota paid a musical tribute to the enduring legend who sang some 12,000 songs in an incredible eight-decade career that started when she was just 10.
While Sudesh Bhosle crooned "Zindagi Ek Safar Hai Suhana", Shaan sang "Pyaar Ke Mod Pe".
But they were not the only ones.
Many fans, their hands folded in prayer, were heard singing the many numbers that made Bhosle the star that she was for music lovers of all ages and through many generations.
Snatches of "Aaiye Meherbaan", the languid song of love filmed on Madhubala, and "Chura Liya Hai Tumne Jo Dil Pe", romance of another hue pictured on Zeenat Aman many decades later, and many others, could be heard. Some softly crooned, others louder.
"I've been a huge fan of Asha Tai. She has had songs for every mood and occasion. Our Tai, and her songs, will live forever in our hearts," said one ardent fan.
The irrepressible, exuberance of the versatile Bhosle, who was compelling whether she was singing classical or cabaret, was inspirational, said another.
"Not just her songs, but her being so energetic at this age inspired me. It's all because of her that I'm quite active even now," added another who came with her daughter.
The fanspeak melded with the instrumental versions of many of Bhosle's songs, right from "Inhi Logon Ne" to "In Aankhon Ki Masti" that played out.
It was a day to remember for Mumbai.
People lined the streets, gathered on rooftops and windows, and hundreds walked along the cortege as it made its slow way from Bhosle's home Lower Parel to Shivaji Park to accompany the city's very own Asha Tai on her last journey.
Chants of "Asha Tai amar rahe" went up in the crowds gathered for a last glimpse of the singing star who ruled playlists -- and hearts -- for eight decades.
A giant photograph of Bhosle, radiant in a red sari with her trademark bindi and an ornate nose ring, was placed on the flower-decked bier as the procession made its way through the streets.
Earlier in the day, Bhosle's body, in a glass casket and draped in the tricolour, was kept at her home for mourners to pay their last respects.
Her songs across the decades -- "Aao Huzoor Tumko", "Aaiye Meherban", "Jhumka Gira Re", "Dil Cheez Kya Hai", "O Saathi Re" and "Yai Re Yai Re" -- played softly in the background.
A reminder as it were that the singer may be gone but her songs will live on forever.
Veteran actors Asha Parekh and Helen, Ranveer Singh, Tabu, composer AR Rahman, cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and political leaders Uddhav Thackeray, Praful Patel and Supriya Sule were among those who gathered at her residence.
Bhosle was a recipient of the Padma Vibhushan, Dadasaheb Phalke Award and the Maharashtra Bhushan.
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