US seeks 'meaningful accountability' in Gurpatawant Singh Pannun murder plot investigation

US Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel on Oct 22 said that the United States “won't be fully satisfied until there is meaningful accountability in the investigation into the Gurpatwant Singh Pannun case.”

The meeting between the US and India was held last week where both sides exchanged information for their respective investigations further.

Patel said there was “valuable engagement” with India's inquiry committee last week concerning the alleged foiled assassination plot of the US-based pro-Khalistani leader Pannun.

On Oct 15, an Indian enquiry committee visited the US to look into the allegations of the involvement of an Indian government official in the foiled plot to assassinate Pannun.

Patel said the US expects to see further steps based by India in the investigation based on conversation held between officials of two nations.

Responding to a question as to what the US government would like to say to India on the Pannun case, the deputy spokesperson said, “So, to take a step back, there was valuable engagement with India's inquiry committee last week, and information was exchanged between our two governments to further our respective investigations. We understand that the Indian inquiry committee will continue its investigation, and we expect to see further steps based on last week's conversations.”

"We continue to expect and want to see accountability based on the results of that investigation, and certainly the United States won't be fully satisfied until there is meaningful accountability resulting from that investigation. Beyond that, I'm just not going to address this in further detail given that this is an issue that is active and remains under investigation and ongoing under both of our countries," he added.
Pannun is the founder of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) and an India-designated terrorist who holds dual citizenship in America and Canada.

Earlier in November, the US Justice Department unsealed an indictment against an ex-RAW official for his alleged involvement in a foiled plot to assassinate Pannun.

Last week, an unsealed indictment showed that the US charged Vikash Yadav with the murder plot against the Sikh separatist in New York City.

According to the indictment, beginning in May 2023, Vikash Yadav, who worked for the Indian government at the time, in association with others in India and abroad hatched a murder plan against Pannun.

However, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has confirmed that the individual charged in the case was no longer an employee of the 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 said at a media briefing.

Meanwhile, Canada has repeatedly alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government was behind the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh separatist and an ally of Pannun.

Nijjar, 45, was shot dead in June 2023 outside a gurdwara in a Vancouver suburb.

In a related development, Pannun on Oct 21 issued a threat to Indians taking Air India flights from Nov 1 to 19.

Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun posted a video warning passengers not to fly on Air India flights as an attack could take during the specified dates, which coincide with the “40th anniversary of the Sikh genocide.”

He had issued a similar threat around the same time last year.

An X user, while commenting on the threat said, “The USA considers him their citizen, so shouldn’t we label him an American terrorist?”

The user claiming to be an Indian political commentator and Hindu Rights activist further wrote, " USA claims that any conspiracy against Pannun is a conspiracy against USA. By the same logic, should we not consider Pannun's terror attack threats as official threats by the USA?"