WASHINGTON, Oct 18, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - An Indian intelligence official has been indicted for his role in a foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader in the United States, the Justice Department said Thursday.

Vikash Yadav, 39, who remains at large, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and money laundering, the department said.

Yadav is the second Indian national to be charged in the United States in the alleged plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US and Canadian citizen who lives in New York.

Nikhil Gupta, 53, pleaded not guilty in June to involvement in the assassination plot after being extradited to the United States from the Czech Republic.

Pannun is affiliated with a New York-based group called Sikhs for Justice that advocates for the secession of Punjab, a northern Indian state with a large Sikh population.

Pannun, in a statement on X, denounced the alleged assassination plot as a "blatant case of India's transnational terrorism" and a "threat to freedom of speech and democracy."

The Justice Department accused Yadav of directing the plot and said he recruited Gupta in May 2023 to hire a hitman to carry out the murder.

Gupta allegedly contacted an individual he believed to be a criminal associate to hire a hitman. The individual was in fact a confidential source working with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

"Yadav, an employee of the Indian government, used his position of authority and access to confidential information to direct the attempted assassination of an outspoken critic of the Indian government here on US soil," Anne Milgram, the DEA chief, said in a statement.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department "will be relentless in holding accountable any person -- regardless of their position or proximity to power -- who seeks to harm and silence American citizens."

- Ambassadors expelled -

According to the Justice Department, Yadav was employed by the Indian government's Cabinet Secretariat, which houses the country's foreign intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

The United States said Wednesday it had been informed by India that an intelligence operative accused of directing an assassination plot on US soil was no longer in government service.

"They did inform us that the individual who was named in the Justice Department indictment is no longer an employee of the Indian government," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. "We are satisfied with the cooperation."

The action by New Delhi represented a sharp contrast to its defiant approach to similar charges from Canada, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday accused India of violating his country's sovereignty.

Canada has separately alleged that India arranged a plot on its soil that ended in the killing last year of a Sikh separatist, who was a naturalized Canadian citizen, outside a Vancouver temple.

Unlike the United States, Canada has highlighted its concerns publicly and at the highest level, with Trudeau criticizing India's actions.

Canada and India on Monday expelled each other's ambassadors as Ottawa said that the Indian campaign went further than previously reported.
India has rejected Canada's charges and alleged a domestic political motive by Trudeau.

Canada has the largest Sikh community outside of India, concentrated in suburban areas that are critical in national elections.