The United States has consistently requested updates on the investigation by an Indian inquiry committee into an alleged plot to assassinate Khalistani leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun and has sought accountability from the Indian government, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said on Wednesday.

“We have sought accountability and we have held constructive dialogue with India on this topic [the alleged plot] and they [India] have been responsive towards our concerns. We have consistently asked for updates. The issue has been raised at the highest levels of leadership,” Campbell said in response to the query.

Incidentally, Campbell, while responding to another query, mentioned that India is looking at “institutional reforms” necessary to prevent such a situation from occurring again.

The so-called “murder for hire” plot against Pannun, who has already been declared a terrorist by New Delhi, has emerged as an irritant in an otherwise robust India-US relationship. The Indian government established a high-level inquiry committee to investigate inputs provided by the US last year. However, the composition and findings of this committee have not been made public.

He said that the US has raised the issue directly with the Indian government “at the most senior levels” in response to a question on whether he and US National Security Adviser (NSA) Jake Sullivan brought up the alleged plot to target Pannun on American soil during their visit to New Delhi last week.

The US has had a “constructive dialogue” with India on this topic and the Indian side has “been responsive to our concerns”, Cambell said.

“I will say that we also believe that Indian colleagues are looking carefully at what potential institutional reforms might be necessary in the wake of some of these allegations and reports.... those discussions continue between the US and India and I think anything further is likely to come through law enforcement channels,” he said without giving details.

An indictment filed by US prosecutors in a federal court in Manhattan alleged that an Indian government employee, a field operative responsible for intelligence and identified only as “CC-1”, directed Indian national Nikhil Gupta to arrange the assassination of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) leader Pannun in New York. SFJ has been outlawed by India.

This plot, first revealed by the US Justice Department in November 2023, allegedly involved Gupta and an official of the Indian government conspiring to kill Pannun, the founder of the pro-Khalistan organisation Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), who has been designated a terrorist by India.

Gupta allegedly attempted to hire an assassin for $100,000. The supposed hitman was, in fact, an agent of the US authorities. According to media reports, Gupta was lured out of India by American authorities and was arrested by Czech authorities upon arriving in Prague on 30 June 2023.

Earlier this year, his appeals against extradition to the US failed. Consequently, on 14 June, he was extradited to New York City, where he appeared before a federal court on 17 June.

The Indian government instituted a high-level inquiry committee into the allegations raised by American authorities on 18 November 2023. New Delhi has maintained that Washington, D.C. has provided specific information that requires a proper investigation, distinguishing this case from that of Canada — another Western country accusing Indian officials of being linked to the killing of one of its citizens.

Image source: X