By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States has charged a former Indian intelligence officer for allegedly directing a foiled plot to murder a Sikh separatist and Indian critic in New York City, with the FBI warning against such a retaliation aimed at a U.S. resident.
An indictment of Vikash Yadav was ordered to be unsealed on Thursday. The U.S. Justice Department indictment mentioned Yadav as a former officer in India's Research and Analysis Wing spy service.
Washington has alleged that Indian agents were involved in an attempted assassination plot against Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen.
"The FBI will not tolerate acts of violence or other efforts to retaliate against those residing in the U.S. for exercising their constitutionally protected rights," FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.
The indictment alleged that beginning in May 2023, Yadav, described as an employee of the Indian government at the time, worked together with others in India and abroad to direct a plot against Pannun. The indictment described Pannun as a political activist, a critic of the Indian government and an advocate for a separate homeland for Sikhs.
India has labeled Sikh separatists as "terrorists" and as threats to its security. Sikh separatists demand an independent homeland known as Khalistan to be carved out of India. An insurgency in India during the 1980s and 1990s killed tens of thousands.
Yadav, 39, was still in India and the United States was expected to seek his extradition, the Washington Post reported, citing American officials.
'MURDER-FOR-HIRE'
The indictment said Yadav had hired an Indian national named Nikhil Gupta whom the U.S. Justice Department has previously charged with trying to arrange the murder of Pannun at the behest of the Indian intelligence official.
Yadav recruited Gupta "to orchestrate the assassination of the victim in the United States," the indictment, filed in federal court in Manhattan, said.
Gupta traveled to Prague from India last June and was arrested by Czech authorities before being extradited to the U.S. where he pleaded not guilty in a court in June.
The indictment on Thursday charged Yadav with "murder-for-hire and money laundering."
In a statement on Thursday, Pannun welcomed the indictment of Yadav, but described him as a "mid-tier soldier" who the Sikh separatist alleged was assigned by Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and then RAW Chief Samant Goel as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's goal to dismantle Sikh separatism.
INDIA-U.S. TALKS, CASE IN CANADA
An Indian government committee investigating Indian involvement in the foiled murder plot met with U.S. officials in Washington on Tuesday, a meeting that Washington described as productive.
Without giving further details, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday that India informed the U.S. that "the individual who was named in the Justice Department indictment is no longer an employee of the Indian government."
The United States had been pushing India to look into the U.S. Justice Department's claim that an Indian intelligence official - now identified as Yadav - directed plans to assassinate Pannun.
The U.S. case is not the only instance of India's alleged targeting of Sikh separatists on foreign soil.
Canada on Monday expelled Indian diplomats, linking them to the 2023 murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil. India also ordered the expulsion of Canadian diplomats and denies Canada's allegations.
The U.S. Justice Department says Nijjar and Pannun were associates, and said that Gupta, who was allegedly hired by Yadav, felt that after Nijjar's killing in Canada, there was "now no need to wait" on killing Pannun. The plot against Pannun was thwarted by U.S. authorities.
The accusations have tested Washington and Ottawa's relations with India, often viewed by the West as a counterbalance to China.