(Ottawa) A mysterious sponsor of the Indian government, a fake hitman, several Sikh leaders in North America in the sights of New Delhi, including three in Canada: an indictment unveiled Wednesday by the judicial authorities of the United States United lifts the veil on the modus operandi of the government of Narendra Modi that Justin Trudeau had exposed — but with explosive details.
“Sponsored murder is a crime worthy of a movie, but the intrigue in this case couldn’t be more real,” summarized James Smith of the FBI in the press release announcing the filing of charges against the suspect, Nikhil Gupta. .
India thus finds itself once again in the dock, about a month after Ottawa alleged that the Modi government had sponsored the assassination, on Canadian soil, of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar. And this time, the schemes are detailed in an indictment.
The case dates back to May 2023: an Indian government intelligence official recruited a man posing as a player in international arms and drug trafficking. He asks him to set up an operation to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist.
PHOTO CRAIG RUTTLE, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist considered a terrorist by the Indian government
Rookie Nikhil Gupta gets to work. According to court documents from the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, he came into contact with an individual he believed to be associated with organized crime, but who was in fact a confidential source for the police. American order.
He then organizes a meeting with an undercover agent, who will pose as a hired shooter. On June 9, 2023, Nikhil Gupta agreed to pay him US$100,000 to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun; a first payment of US$15,000 was made by one of his associates in a vehicle in Manhattan.
SCREENSHOT OF INJURY
No action planned during high-level meetings between Washington and New Delhi in the United States: the killing of a well-known Sikh activist could provoke protests and “political things”, Nikhil Gupta tells the confidential American source, we read in the court documents.
PHOTO EVELYN HOCKSTEIN, REUTERS
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Joe Biden during his visit to the White House last June.
US President Joe Biden received Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House on June 21. The Indian leader was welcomed with great pomp: military honors, speeches before the American Congress, a sumptuous state dinner.
“We have so many targets”
In Canada, a few days earlier, Hardeep Singh Nijjar was executed by armed men in front of a temple in Surrey, British Columbia. In American court documents, we can read that he had links with Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
On the evening of the murder, June 18, the Indian government representative who rescued Nikhil Gupta sent the latter a video of the Sikh activist’s bloodied body. He was “a target”, “we have so many targets”, explains Nikhil Gupta to the pseudo hitman.
The next day, he warns the undercover agent that he must “finish four operations [jobs] by the 29th [juin] ”, i.e. the American target and after that, “three in Canada”. And in light of the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, he changes his mind: we must take action, and quickly.
“We have the green light to move forward at any time, even today [NDLR, le 19 juin] or tomorrow, as soon as possible. [Le tireur à gages] must finish this work, my brother,” explains Nikhil Gupta to the confidential American source who had referred the undercover agent to him.
Be careful, on the other hand: on the New York side, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun “will be more careful, because in Canada, his colleague has been shot down”, and we “must not give them a chance, no chance”, points out the man from New Delhi to New York, where the murder was to be committed.
Washington agrees with Ottawa, says Trudeau
The American plot was eventually derailed, and Nikhil Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic at the request of the United States on June 30. In Canada, Hardeep Singh Nijjar was not so lucky, and Prime Minister Trudeau caused a diplomatic crisis by alleging that India had sponsored the murder.
In the wake of the allegations made by the Canadian government, the government of India declared persona non grata 41 diplomats from Ottawa who were stationed on Indian territory. The United States and the United Kingdom denounced this decision, according to them contrary to the Vienna Convention.
The filing of the indictment in Washington somehow vindicated him, who had been criticized because of this outing. “The news from the United States further highlights what we have been saying all along, that India must take the issue seriously,” he responded on Wednesday.
“Since August we have been working with our American friends, with partners around the world to convey our concerns to the Indian government and to try to work with them,” he also said. declared in the press scrum.
PHOTO SPENCER COLBY, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Federal Minister of Public Safety, Dominic LeBlanc
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc refused to say why Canada failed where the United States succeeded. “The worst thing I could do would be to speculate or comment on the details of a police investigation or intelligence operations,” he argued.
Concern in the Sikh community
The Canadian investigation into the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar is still ongoing.
He and Gurpatwant Singh Pannun are considered terrorists by the Indian government because they advocate for the creation of a Sikh state in India, Khalistan.
And the fact that three members of the Canadian Sikh community are in New Delhi’s sights concerns the World Sikh Organization of Canada. “This revelation is disconcerting,” reacted its president, Danish Singh, on Wednesday.
“We urge Canadian authorities and law enforcement to bring to justice those responsible for Nijjar’s assassination as quickly as possible and to clearly identify those involved in the plot in India and elsewhere,” he said. also stated.