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The Indian government declared Pannu a terrorist under the UAPA on 1 July 2020. Pannu holds Canadian and US citizenship.
A US court on Tuesday sent summons to the Indian government in connection with the conspiracy to murder Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannu. The summons also include the names of India’s NSA Ajit Doval, former RAW chief Samant Goel, RAW agent Vikram Yadav and businessman Nikhil Gupta.
The US court has asked to respond to this summons within 21 days. Pannu had filed a case in a US district court regarding a conspiracy to kill him. Last year, the US had alleged that a conspiracy was hatched to kill Pannu in New York. India was involved in this. This conspiracy was foiled.
In response to the summons, the Ministry of External Affairs said during a press conference on Thursday that this summons is completely false. Foreign Secretary Vikram Mistry said that when this matter was brought to our notice, we took action. A high-level committee has also been formed in this matter.
The US government sought an answer in June On June 26, the US had demanded accountability from India in the case of attempted murder of Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannu. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell had said that we have raised this issue directly with the Indian government. We have also sought the report of the investigation committee. Washington wants answers in this matter.
In fact, Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta was arrested by the Czech Republic Police on 30 June 2023 on charges of plotting to murder Pannu. On 14 June 2024, Nikhil was extradited to the US.
According to American agencies, this planning was done during PM Modi’s visit to America. However, this information was given on 22 November.
On November 29, 2023, the New York Police chargesheet was released in the case of plotting to murder Pannu.
83 lakh rupees were given to kill Pannu In the charge sheet, Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta is accused of conspiring to kill Pannu. It is written in it – a former CRPF officer of India had asked him to plan the murder of Pannu. Nikhil had made a deal with a person to pay Rs 83 lakh in exchange for the job.
After this, in April this year, American media Washington Post claimed in its report that RAW was behind the conspiracy to kill Pannu. According to the report, the entire planning of Pannu’s murder was done by a senior RAW officer Vikram Yadav. He had hired a hit team.
Yadav sent information about Pannu to Indian agent Nikhil Gupta, which revealed that he was in New York. After this, Nikhil Gupta contacted an agent to kill Pannu. However, Nikhil Gupta was arrested before the plan could succeed.
News agency Reuters had released this sketch of Nikhil’s courtroom.
What happened in the Pannu case, when, complete timeline according to the charge sheet…
- May 2023: According to US prosecutors, an Indian official (Vikram Yadav) hired Nikhil Gupta.
- May 29: Nikhil Gupta started looking for someone who could kill Pannu. However, the person hired to kill Pannu turned out to be an undercover agent from America. For a few weeks, Nikhil Gupta discussed the method and price of killing Pannu with this undercover agent.
- June 9: Gupta sent $15,000 (12 lakh 49 thousand rupees) in cash through a person to the hitman hired to kill Pannu. This was an advance payment for the murder.
- June 11: The Indian official told Gupta that Pannu cannot be killed right now. In fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had gone on a visit to America in June. Gupta also said on the phone that nothing can be done for 10 days, otherwise protests will start.
- June 12 to June 14: Gupta told his partner over the phone about a big target in Canada. He said he would share the details later.
- June 18: Some people kill terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. A few months later, Canada blames India for this murder.
- June 19: Gupta sends the video of Nijjar’s murder to the hitman hired to kill Pannu in America. He writes – This is good news, there is no need to wait now.
- June 24 to June 29: Gupta moved forward with the plan to kill Pannu. Pannu was put under surveillance.
- June 30: Gupta was taken into custody in the Czech Republic at the request of the US.
Who is Gurpatwant Singh Pannu?
- Gurpatwant Singh Pannu is originally from Khankot in Punjab. He currently lives in America and runs an organization called Sikh for Justice. He has citizenship of both America and Canada.
- The Indian government banned Pannu’s organisation SFJ in 2019 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for running terrorist activities. Under the guise of referendum for Sikhs, SFJ was supporting separatism and extremist ideology in Punjab.
- Pannu was accused of promoting separatism and encouraging Punjabi Sikh youth to take up arms in the year 2020. After this, the central government declared Pannu a terrorist under UAPA on 1 July 2020. According to media reports, this was the main target of this conspiracy. However, this is not mentioned in the US charge sheet.
Pannu is an American and Canadian citizen. He organises demonstrations in support of Khalistan from Canada and financially supports the supporters of Khalistan in India. In the photo, Sikhs living in Canada demonstrating against India in Canada.
How did this matter come between the governments? According to a report in Indian Express, the case was about a conspiracy to murder an American citizen. The officer based in India was accused of the murder conspiracy. That is why American officers informed their senior officers about this. This case was raised in front of India for the first time on 5-6 August in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. When a meeting was being held on Russia-Ukraine issue.
At that time, American NSA Jack Sullivan had separately talked to India’s NSA Ajit Doval about the murder plot. Doval had bluntly told Sullivan that things would not work out like this. India can investigate this only if there is evidence and details. If all this is not there then it is all nonsense.