Justin Trudeau’s accusations that Indian intelligence services orchestrated the murder of a Sikh leader on Canadian territory have just been reinforced by the United States, which on Wednesday accused an Indian national of having sponsored the attempted assassination of a Sikh separatist leader in New York.
The target was on the same list as Canadian of Indian origin Hardeep Singh Nijjar, killed on June 18 in the Surrey region of British Columbia, possibly by agents of the Indian government, supports Ottawa, citing “credible allegations”. The affair sparked a diplomatic row between the two countries.
On Wednesday, the American justice system in Manhattan brought grist to the Ottawa mill by officially indicting an employee of the Indian government for having ordered the murder of a leader of the Sikh community in New York last May. The document filed in court does not specify the name of this target, but last week, the Financial Times identified him as Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a founding lawyer of the American organization Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) which campaigns for the creation of an independent state called Khalistan in India.
The accused in this case is Nikhil Gupta, 52. He was arrested on June 30 by Czech authorities under the existing extradition treaty with the United States. He was allegedly hired by a “senior field officer” in charge of intelligence for the Indian government to develop this macabre plan by finding a hitman himself. No luck: the killer he recruited in May was in fact “an informant for the American security services” who helped foil the murder and reveal to the courts the plot hatched by the Indian government.
The Indian government agent agreed to pay $100,000 to this alleged hitman during negotiations led by Nikhil Gupta, of which $15,000 was paid to him as an advance on June 9, underlines the American Department of Justice, supporting photo.
On June 19, 24 hours after the assassination of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, Mr. Gupta allegedly asked the alleged killer to end the life of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York, while explaining that the two Sikhs were on the same list, say American prosecutors. The document filed in court states that the Indian national was ordered not to shoot down the target during high-level diplomatic talks between India and the United States held in the first two weeks of June.
Nikhil Gupta is charged with conspiracy to murder and recruiting a hit man, two counts each carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Since the update of this plan to assassinate a Sikh separatist on its territory, the Biden administration has demanded accountability from India behind the scenes of diplomacy, by sending to New Delhi the director of the CIA, William J. Burns last August, followed by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines in October, the Washington Post. Just as was the case for Canada, the affair risks straining diplomatic, strategic and commercial ties between the two countries.
In early August, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan personally expressed his concerns about the assassination attempt to his Indian counterpart, Ajit Doval, during a meeting in another country. the region. “He stressed that India must investigate [le complot] and clarified that the United States needed to have assurance that this would not happen again,” according to a senior administration official, quoted by the American daily.
In a press release, India neither confirmed nor denied the existence of an assassination plan on American soil and the involvement of the Indian government in the project. The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Arindam Bagchi, clarified that his country “takes seriously” the information provided by the United States and set up a “high-level commission of inquiry” at the beginning of November to investigate this matter.
Last October, Ottawa repatriated 41 of its diplomats stationed in India. Shocked by Justin Trudeau’s decision to bring conspiracy accusations publicly in September, New Delhi then threatened to lift their immunity.
Saturday, on the CTV network, the High Commissioner of India to Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma, reiterated that his country was “absolutely” and “definitely” not involved in the death of Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June. He recalled in passing that India’s “main concern” in relation to Canada is that “certain Canadian citizens are using Canada’s territory to launch attacks against sovereignty and territorial integrity. [de l’Inde] “, he said, while considering that the thing threatens the security of diplomats and Indian officials working in Canada.
With Agence France-Presse