DOJ indicts Indian official for plotting to assassinate Sikh opponent in New York
Vitash Yadav, an agent of India’s intelligence service, orchestrated an assassination attempt on a secessionist leader from the Punjab region, an operation that was ultimately foiled by U.S. authorities.
Department of Justice headquarters.
The Justice Department announced Thursday that it is charging an Indian government official with federal charges. Vikash Yadav, 39, is accused of participating in a criminal plot aimed at assassinating an opposition leader of the Sikh community in New York.
According to the indictment, in 2023, Yadav, along with accomplices, orchestrated a plot to assassinate a New York City-based lawyer and political activist, an American citizen of Indian origin, on U.S. soil.
For this purpose, he recruited another Indian national, Nikhil Gupta, 53, who was previously indicted and extradited to the United States on charges contained in the first superseding indictment in this case. Yadav remains at large, presumably in India.
World
Conflict between Canada and India: Diplomat expulsions and murder accusations
Santiago Ospital
Vikash Yadav was an employee of the Cabinet Secretariat of the Government of India, which houses the Indian Foreign Intelligence Service. According to the indictment, Yadav has described his position as a "senior field officer" with responsibilities for "security management" and "intelligence." The DOJ claims that the accused has also mentioned having previously served in India's Central Reserve Police Force and having received "officer training" in "combat arts" and "weapons." Yadav is a citizen and resident of India, and directed the assassination plot from there.
The victim of the assassination attempt is an opposition leader highly critical of the Indian government of Narendra Modi. He heads a U.S.-based organization that advocates for the secession of Punjab, a northern Indian state with a majority Sikh population (an ethno-religious minority group in India with a significant diaspora in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States).
This secessionist organization has for years publicly called for part or all of Punjab to secede from India and be established as the sovereign state of Khalistan. The Indian government has banned those akin to these separatist organizations and movements from entering India.
In addition to a full-blown case of political persecution, the Justice Department considers the attacks a First Amendment attack.
Yadav and Gupta, from India, have been charged with murder for hire, conspiracy to commit murder for hire and conspiracy to commit money laundering. These offenses carry sentences of between 10 and 20 years imprisonment each.
Parallel plot in Canada
In September of that year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau advanced that Indian officials were allegedly involved in the death of the Sikh activist, who advocated the secession of an independent nation in northern India.
As a result of these allegations, both countries have recalled a group of ambassadors respectively from each country. According to Canadian authorities, their investigation points to India maintaining a plot to harass and persecute opponents in Canada, just as in the United States it ordered the assassination of another opponent.
LATEST
