‘Working with India to hold those behind Pannun murder plot accountable’: US

The United States has said it is working with the government of India to hold accountable.

Those behind a plot to kill Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil, news agency PTI quoted the Joe Biden administration as saying.

The development comes as Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national, was charged by federal prosecutors in November last year, in connection with his involvement in a foiled plot to assassinate Pannun.

US federal prosecutors have charged that Gupta was working with an Indian government employee and had agreed to pay an assassin USD 1,00,000 to kill Pannun, who lives in New York City.

India has already constituted a probe committee to investigate the allegations.

On Wednesday, during a Congressional hearing, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Donald Lu, told members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the matter was a “serious issue” between India and the United States.

“This is a serious issue, a serious issue between the United States and India. The Department of Justice has alleged that an Indian citizen at the behest of someone working in the Indian government has attempted to kill an American citizen on American soil. We take this in the administration incredibly seriously and have raised it at the highest levels with India,” Lu had said.

“We are at the moment working with India to encourage India to hold accountable, those responsible for this terrible crime. What we can see is that India itself has announced that they have created a committee of inquiry to look into this matter and we ask them to work quickly and transparently to make sure justice is done,” he added.

Lu’s remarks came while he was responding to a question from Congressman Dean Phillips from Minnesota, who asked if sanctions similar to those placed on more than 500 individuals relating to the killing of Lexie Navalny in Russia are being considered for those believed to be behind the plot to kill Pannun.

In February this year, the US State Department told lawmakers that the allegations of India’s involvement in the assassination attempts “are very concerning”.

Meanwhile, India has described as a “matter of concern” the US linking an Indian official to a man charged with conspiring to kill a Sikh separatist on American soil, and asserted that follow-up action will be taken based on the findings of a panel investigating the allegations.