FBI Director Christopher Wray has claimed that the defendant, an Indian authorities worker, allegedly conspired with a prison affiliate and tried to assassinate an American citizen on US soil for exercising their First Amendment rights
The US Justice Department on Thursday (native time) introduced the submitting of murder-for-hire and cash laundering charges in opposition to a former Indian authorities worker, Vikash Yadav, in connection together with his alleged function in directing a foiled plot to assassinate Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who’s a US citizen. In a press release, the US Justice Department stated, “Yadav is charged in a second superseding indictment unsealed today in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Yadav’s alleged co-conspirator, Nikhil Gupta, 53, was previously charged and extradited to the United States on the charges contained in the first superseding indictment. Yadav remains at large.”
Attorney General Merrick B Garland has expressed the US Justice Department’s dedication to maintain accountable any one that seeks to hurt American residents.
“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,” Merrick B Garland stated.
Garland additional stated that the US has foiled an try by Vikash Yadav and his co-conspirator Nikhil Gupta to assassinate an American citizen on US soil.
“As alleged, last year, we foiled an attempt by Vikash Yadav, an Indian government employee, and his co-conspirator, Nikhil Gupta, to assassinate an American citizen on US soil. Today’s charges demonstrate that the Justice Department will not tolerate attempts to target and endanger Americans and to undermine the rights to which every US citizen is entitled,” Garland stated.
FBI Director Christopher Wray has claimed that the defendant, an Indian authorities worker, allegedly conspired with a prison affiliate and tried to assassinate an American citizen on US soil for exercising their First Amendment rights.
Wray additional stated, “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. We are committed to working with our partners to detect, disrupt, and hold accountable foreign nationals or others who seek to engage in such acts of transnational repression.”
Assistant Attorney General Matthew G Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division pressured that the charges introduced immediately are a “grave example of the increase in lethal plotting and other forms of violent transnational repression targeting diaspora communities in the United States.”
Issuing a warning to nations in opposition to planning such prison exercise, Olsen stated, “To the governments around the world who may be considering such criminal activity and to the communities they would target, let there be no doubt that the Department of Justice is committed to disrupting and exposing these plots and to holding the wrongful actors accountable no matter who they are or where they reside.”
Administrator Anne Milgram of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has acknowledged that the DEA foiled the assassination try in 2023 and “has continued to trace this case back to an employee of the Indian government whom we charge was an orchestrator of this intricate murder-for-hire scheme. DEA did not relent, and today’s indictment names Vikash Yadav as an alleged mastermind.”
She additional stated, “We charge that 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.”
She famous that the case was led by the DEA New York Division’s Drug Enforcement Task Force, which is comprised of the DEA, the New York State Police, and the New York City Police Department.
According to US Attorney Damian Williams, this workplace final yr charged Nikhil Gupta for conspiring to assassinate an American citizen of Indian origin on US soil.
“But, as alleged, Gupta did not work alone. Today, we announce charges against an Indian government employee, Vikash Yadav, who orchestrated the plot from India and directed Gupta to hire a hitman to murder the victim. The right to exercise free speech is foundational to our democracy, and predicated on the notion that we can do so without fear of violence or reprisal, including from beyond our borders,” Williams additional stated.
As alleged within the second superseding indictment and different public courtroom paperwork, in 2023, Yadav, working along with others, together with Gupta, in India, and elsewhere, directed a plot to assassinate “an legal professional and political activist who’s a US citizen of Indian origin residing in New York City (the sufferer) on American soil.
US Justice Department stated, “During times relevant to the second superseding indictment, Yadav was employed by the Government of India’s Cabinet Secretariat, which houses Indian’s foreign intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing. Yadav has described his position as a ‘senior field officer” with tasks in “security management” and “intelligence’.”
“Yadav also has referenced previously serving in India’s Central Reserve Police Force and receiving “officer[] coaching” in “battle craft” and “weapons.” Yadav is a citizen and resident of India, and he directed the plot to assassinate the Victim from India,” it added.
In or about May 2023, Yadav recruited Gupta to orchestrate the assassination of a US citizen. Gupta is an Indian nationwide who resided in India and has described his involvement in worldwide narcotics and weapons trafficking in his communications with Yadav and others.
After receiving instruction from Yadav, Gupta contacted a person whom Gupta “believed to be a criminal associate, but who was in fact a confidential source (the CS) working with the DEA, for assistance in contracting a hitman to murder the victim in New York City.”
The US Justice Department stated, “The CS introduced Gupta to a purported hitman, who was in fact a DEA undercover officer (the UC). Yadav subsequently agreed, in dealings brokered by Gupta, to pay the UC USD 100,000 to murder the victim. On or about June 9, 2023, Yadav and Gupta arranged for an associate to deliver USD 15,000 in cash to the UC as an advance payment for the murder. Yadav’s associate then delivered the USD 15,000 to the UC in Manhattan.”
In or about June 2023, in furtherance of the assassination plot, Yadav supplied Gupta with private details about the sufferer, together with the sufferer’s dwelling tackle in New York City, telephone numbers associated to the sufferer, and particulars relating to the sufferer’s day-to-day conduct, which Gupta then handed to the UC.
Yadav directed Gupta to present common updates on the progress of the assassination plot, which Gupta achieved by forwarding to Yadav, amongst different issues, surveillance images of the sufferer, in accordance to the assertion.
The assertion reads, “Gupta directed the UC to carry out the murder as soon as possible, but Gupta also specifically instructed the UC not to commit the murder around the time of the Indian Prime Minister’s official state visit to the United States, which was scheduled to begin on or about June 20, 2023.”
On or about June 18, 2023, masked gunmen shot Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar exterior a Gurdwara in Canada’s British Columbia.
The US Justice Department stated, “On or about June 19, 2023, the day after the Nijjar murder, Gupta told the UC that Nijjar “was additionally the goal” and ‘we have so many targets.” Gupta added that, in mild of Nijjar’s homicide, there was “now no need to wait” on killing the Victim. On or about June 20, 2023, Yadav despatched Gupta a information article in regards to the sufferer and messaged Gupta, “[i]t’s [a] priority now’.”
According to the assertion, Yadav and Gupta of India have been charged with murder-for-hire, which carries a most penalty of 10 years in jail; conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, which carries a most penalty of 10 years in jail; and conspiracy to commit cash laundering, which carries a most penalty of 20 years in jail.
A federal district courtroom decide will decide any sentence after contemplating the US Sentencing Guidelines and different statutory elements.
The DEA New York Division and the FBI New York Field Office’s Counterintelligence Division are finishing up an investigation into the case, with beneficial help supplied by the DEA Special Operations Division, DEA Vienna Country Office, FBI Prague Country Office, Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, and Czech Republic’s National Drug Headquarters.
Assistant US Attorneys Camille L Fletcher, Ashley C. Nicolas, and Alexander Li for the Southern District of New York are prosecuting the case with help from Trial Attorney Christopher Cook of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section and Trial Attorney AJ Dixon of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.
The US Justice Department famous, “An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.”
The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday confirmed that the person named within the US Justice Department’s indictment case in a foiled assassination plot in opposition to Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, was not an worker of the federal government of India.
“The US State Department informed us that the individual in the Justice Department indictment is no longer employed by India. I confirm that he is no longer an employee of the Government of India,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated in a press convention.
Earlier in June, Gupta was extradited from the Czech Republic to the US to stand trial, the place he pleaded ‘not responsible.’
India in November final yr fashioned a high-level inquiry committee to tackle the safety considerations highlighted by the US authorities.
The MEA stated that India takes such inputs severely since they impinge on nationwide safety pursuits as nicely, and related departments had been already analyzing the problem.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA workers and is printed from ANI)
