DM Monitoring
WASHINGTON: The United States is looking forward to the result of an Indian government investigation into American prosecutors charges against a man they said was “recruited” by an Indian official to assassinate a pro-Khalistan leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on US soil, State Department Spokesperson Mathew Miller said Monday. “With respect to this specific case, there is an ongoing law enforcement matter at issue here, and we don’t talk about those from this podium. I will defer to the Department of Justice to do that,” he said in response to a question from a Bangladeshi journalist.
“When this alleged incident was brought to our attention, we made it very clear at the most senior levels of our government to the most senior levels of the Indian government how seriously we would treat something like this,” Miller told reporters at his daily news briefing. “They (Indian government) have opened an investigation into the matter and we look forward to seeing the results of that investigation,” he added.
The US had made clear that it opposes transnational oppression no matter where it occurred or who might be conducting it, the spokesperson said. “That’s not a comment specific to India. That’s a comment specific to any country in the world,” Miller said. Last week, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Nikhil Gupta, 52, worked with the Indian government employee, whose responsibilities included security and intelligence, on the plot to assassinate a New York City resident who advocated for a sovereign state of Khalistan. Prosecutors at that time did not name the Indian official or the target. Gupta was arrested by Czech authorities in June and is awaiting extradition.
“The defendant 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,” Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, said in a statement.
The charges come after a senior Biden administration said earlier that U.S. authorities had thwarted a plot to kill a Sikh separatist in the United States and issued a warning to India over concerns the government in New Delhi was involved.
The unidentified Indian government employee allegedly contacted Gupta in May to orchestrate the assassination, according to a superseding indictment.
The employee told Gupta that in exchange, the employee would help with getting a criminal case in India against Gupta dismissed. Gupta allegedly reached out to someone he believed was a criminal associate for assistance with finding a hit man, prosecutors said, noting that the person Gupta reached out to was a source working with the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration). The DEA source connected Gupta to the undercover DEA officer who pretended to be a hit man, the indictment stated.
The Indian government employee gave Gupta information about the victim, including phone numbers, the victim’s day-to-day conduct and the victim’s home address in New York City. The government employee offered to pay $100,000 for the assassination, according to the indictment.
