US charges ex-Indian spy service officer in foiled Sikh separatist murder plot

The United States has charged a former Indian intelligence officer who allegedly directed a foiled plot to murder a Sikh separatist in New York last year, with the FBI saying it would not tolerate retaliation against a US resident.

An indictment of Vikash Yadav was ordered to be unsealed on Thursday. The US Justice Department indictment mentioned Yadav as a former officer in India’s Research and Analysis Wing spy service. It was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Washington has alleged Indian agents were involved in an attempted assassination plot against Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual US-Canadian citizen.

“The FBI will not tolerate acts of violence or other efforts to retaliate against those residing in the US for exercising their constitutionally protected rights,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.

An Indian government committee investigating Indian involvement in the foiled murder plot met US officials in Washington on Tuesday, a meeting that Washington described as productive.

The United States had been pushing India to look into the US Justice Department’s claim that an Indian intelligence official directed plans to assassinate Pannun.