According to court records and a police officer, a former Indian government official was arrested in New Delhi in December in an attempted murder case, and he was charged this week in the United States for allegedly directing a foiled murder plot.
On Thursday, Vikash Yadav, 39, was indicted by the US Justice Department on charges that he was involved in a plot to kill a Sikh separatist in New York.
According to the US indictment, Yadav, who was described as an Indian government employee at the time, collaborated with others in India and abroad to direct a plot to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual citizen of the United States and Canada, beginning in May 2023.
A police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity told Reuters that Yadav had been arrested by Delhi Police on December 18 in the Indian capital.
According to a filing in a Delhi district court, Yadav and an associate were accused of various crimes, including attempted murder.
Yadav’s legal advisor, RK Handoo, referred to the Indian charges as “deceptive”, adding there was “a global plot to welcome disgrace on the public authority of India and my client”.
Handoo declined to remark further.
When questioned regarding Yadav’s whereabouts, neither he nor the police responded.
The Washington Post, refering to American authorities, gave an account of Thursday that Yadav was still in India and that the US was supposed to look for his removal.
According to the specifics of a February 23 order from a Delhi district court, the Indian businessman’s complaint that Yadav and an associate kidnapped, assaulted, and robbed him in December was the basis for Yadav’s arrest.
“The charged people tormented and abused the complainant and requested cash for the sake of criminal Lawrence Bishnoi,” said the Feb 23 court request, summing up the grievance.
Bishnoi, in prison in India’s Gujarat state, is a coordinated wrongdoing pack pioneer, as per India’s Public Examination Organization.
Bishnoi’s legal advisor says he is challenging in excess of 40 cases on charges, including murder and coercion, with numerous preliminaries yet to start.
This week, Canada made two separate accusations against agents of the Indian government: one of having ties to Bishnoi’s gang and the other of running a campaign to target Indian dissidents in Canada. India’s administration denies the claims.
