The Indian Panorama

Tag: Gurpatwant Singh Pannun

  • Gurpatwant Singh Pannun’s ‘Sikhs for Justice’ banned for another 5 years

    Gurpatwant Singh Pannun’s ‘Sikhs for Justice’ banned for another 5 years

    The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal upholds ban on the pro-Khalistani group

    NEW DELHI (TIP): The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal has confirmed a notification issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) banning pro-Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun-led ‘Sikhs for Justice (SFJ)’ for a period of five years.

    The UAPA Tribunal of Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta, a sitting judge of the Delhi High Court, ruled that the evidence given by the Centre established SFJ’s connections with Khalistani terror groups such as Babbar Khalsa International and Khalistan Tiger Force, as well as its collaboration with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to revive militancy in the Punjab.

    It added that the evidence highlighted SFJ’s involvement in recruiting and radicalizing youth using social media platforms, financing terrorism through smuggling networks to procure weapons and explosives, and issuing death threats to political figures, including the Prime Minister and the Home Minister.

    In a notification issued on July 9, 2024, the MHA extended the declaration of SFJ as an unlawful association for another five years, saying that Pannun-led SFJ’s activities have the “potential of disrupting peace, unity, and integrity of the country”.

    Thereafter, a reference was made to the UAPA Tribunal for the purpose of adjudicating whether or not there was sufficient cause for declaring the association unlawful.

    According to the MHA, SFJ is involved in anti-national and subversive activities in Punjab, with the intention to disrupt the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India. The MHA also said that SFJ is in “close touch with militant outfits and activists, and is supporting violent forms of extremism and militancy in Punjab and elsewhere to carve out a sovereign Khalistan out of the territory of Union of India”.

    The pro-Khalistani outfit “can escalate its subversive activities including attempts to carve out Khalistan Nation out of the territory of Union of India by destabilizing the Government established by law”, it added.
    (Source: IANS)

  • US continues to expect accountability from India on Pannun’s assassination bid

    US continues to expect accountability from India on Pannun’s assassination bid

    WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): The US has said it expects accountability from India concerning the alleged role of an Indian government employee in the failed attempt to assassinate a Sikh separatist on US soil last summer.
    In November last year, US federal prosecutors charged Indian national Nikhil Gupta with working with an Indian government employee in the foiled plot to kill Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who holds dual American and Canadian citizenship, in New York.
    Gupta, who was arrested in the Czech Republic in June last year, was extradited to the US on June 14. “We continue to expect accountability from the government of India in relation to the alleged role of an Indian government employee in the failed attempt to assassinate a US citizen on US soil that occurred last summer,” State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters in response to a question at his daily news conference. “We continue to raise our concerns directly with the Indian government at senior levels,” he said. India has denied the allegations but has constituted an internal investigations team to look into it.
    Patel, however, declined to comment on a news report alleging that Canadian authorities claim to have arrested five Indian nationals planning to target a Sikh separatist at a wedding ceremony.
    “As it relates to the news that you mentioned out of Canada, I would refer you to the Canadian government to comment on issues that are happening within their law enforcement system,” the official said. He said that the US continues to raise our concerns directly with the Indian government at senior levels.

    (Source: PTI)

  • India must address US concerns on murder plot against Gurpatwant Pannun, say 5 Indian-American US Lawmakers

    India must address US concerns on murder plot against Gurpatwant Pannun, say 5 Indian-American US Lawmakers

    White House gives classified briefing on alleged murder plot

    • I.S. Saluja

    WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): Indian-American lawmakers have expressed deep concern over an Indian being charged with an alleged plot to kill Khalistani Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American-Canadian citizen.

    If the issue is not addressed appropriately, it could cause significant damage to the US-India partnership, they warned after a classified briefing by the Biden administration on Nikhil Gupta’s indictment.

    Gupta was detained at the Prague airport in June in an action that came at the request of the US, the Czech government spokesman said on Friday, December 15. The US had submitted an extradition request two months later, they said. Friday’s classified briefings were attended by US Representatives Ami Bera, Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna, Raja Krishnamoorthi, and Shri Thanedar.

    “We believe the US-India partnership has made meaningful impact on the lives of both of our people, but we are concerned that the actions outlined in the indictment could, if not appropriately addressed, cause significant damage to this very consequential partnership,” they said in a statement.

    The US Congress members said the charges were deeply concerning and the safety of their constituents are their most important priority. They welcomed India’s move to form an enquiry committee but said it should assure the US that such incidents will not happen again.

    “We welcome the Government of India’s announcement of a Committee of Enquiry to investigate the murder plot and it is critical that India fully investigate, hold those responsible, including Indian government officials, accountable, and provide assurances that this will not happen again,” they said.

    Gupta, 52, moved the Supreme Court on Friday, December 15, via a family member and claimed multiple violations of fundamental rights, including threats to himself and his family, and requested the Indian government to intervene in his extradition to the US. The hearing has been adjourned till January 4.

    He claimed he was intercepted by “American agents” on his arrival in Prague, then bundled into a black SUV and interrogated for three hours while being driven around the foreign city. He claimed he was “forced” to eat only pork and beef during his first few days in the prison.

    Nikhil Gupta has been charged by US federal prosecutors with working with an Indian government employee in the foiled plot to kill Pannun, a designated terrorist in India.

    In September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had alleged the role of Indian agents in the June murder of another Khalistani terrorist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen. India had rejected the allegations as “motivated”. However, the murder plot of another Khalistani, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the US, and US administration’s tough stand on the issue, has lent credence to the claims of Canadian Prime Minister that Indian agents were responsible for Nijjar’s murder. More and more people as also governments across the world do not seem to buy India government’s denials of involvement.
    (With inputs from agencies)

  • U.S. Says Indian Official Directed Assassination Plot of a Sikh Separatist Leader in New York

    U.S. Says Indian Official Directed Assassination Plot of a Sikh Separatist Leader in New York

    Indian national agreed to assassination plot on being assured of withdrawal of criminal case against him in Gujarat

    • I.S. Saluja

    NEW YORK (TIP): “It was described as a New York hit job with international implications: an audacious assassination plot against a Sikh separatist”, says The New York Times.

    The target was a lawyer at a New York-based group called Sikhs for Justice — an American citizen and an outspoken proponent of independence for the northern Indian state of Punjab. And the man who would attempt to arrange his murder, prosecutors said, was an Indian national who had been hired by an official inside the Indian government. But the plot failed: The man planning the assassination hired a hit man who was, in fact, working for the American government. The scheme burst into public view on Wednesday, November 29, when federal prosecutors in Manhattan announced that they had charged the Indian national, Nikhil Gupta, with murder for hire and conspiracy to commit murder for hire. The allegations could complicate the delicate relations among Washington, Ottawa and New Delhi.

    The plot, prosecutors indicated in court documents, was no empty threat. It was linked to the June killing of another Sikh separatist in Canada, and they said that the Indian government official who orchestrated the attempted assassination told Mr. Gupta that there was another target in California.

    The indictment included a photo of a roll of hundred-dollar bills that prosecutors said was an advance payment for the New York job. “We have so many targets,” Mr. Gupta told the federal agent he had unwittingly hired to do the killing, the indictment said.

    The target of the New York plot was identified by American officials as Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who is general counsel for Sikhs for Justice, which supports the secession of Punjab from India.

    A PTI report says that the Indian national, charged in connection with a plan to assassinate a Sikh separatist on American soil, agreed to the plot after being assured that a criminal case against him in Gujarat would be dismissed, federal prosecutors here have alleged.

    Nikhil Gupta, 52, has been charged with murder-for-hire in connection with his participation in a foiled plot to assassinate a US citizen in New York City, according to a superseding indictment unsealed on Wednesday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

    While the indictment does not name the US citizen who was the target of the assassination plot, The Financial Times, citing unnamed sources, last week reported that US authorities thwarted a plot to assassinate banned Sikhs for Justice’s Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, and issued a warning to the Indian government over concerns it was involved in the plot.

    In the indictment, prosecutors outline how Gupta agreed to the plot after being assured that a criminal case against him in Gujarat would be dismissed.

    “Beginning in or about early May 2023, in a series of telephonic and electronic communications between CC-1 and Gupta over encrypted applications, CC-1 asked Gupta to arrange the murder of the victim in exchange for CC-1’s assistance in securing the dismissal of a criminal case against Gupta in India. Gupta agreed to orchestrate the assassination. In addition to their electronic communications, Gupta also met CC-1 in person in New Delhi in furtherance of the plot,” the indictment said.

    Prosecutors have said that CC-1 is an “Indian government employee” who directed the plot from India to assassinate on US soil “an attorney and political activist who is a US citizen of Indian-origin residing in New York City,” described as “the victim” in the indictment.

    “On or about May 6, 2023, at the outset of their conversation over a particular encrypted messaging application, CC-1 wrote Gupta: “This is (CC-1)…Save my name as (CC- 1 Alias).”

    Gupta saved the telephone number on Gupta’s phone under an alias for CC-1. A few minutes later, CC-1 messaged Gupta that CC-1 had a “target in New York” and another target in “California”, the indictment said.

    The indictment added that around “May 12, 2023, CC-1 notified Gupta that his criminal case “has already been taken care of”, and that “nobody from Gujrat police is calling”. On or about May 23, 2023, CC-1 again assured Gupta that CC-1 had “spoke[n] with the boss about your Gujarat (case),” that it was “all clear”, and “nobody will ever bother you again”. CC-1 further offered to arrange a meeting between Gupta and a “DCP”, which is an acronym used in India for Deputy Commissioner of Police. “Following CC-1 ‘s assurances, Gupta pressed forward to arrange the murder,” the indictment said.

    The murder-for-hire charge against Gupta carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

    The indictment said that at CC-1’s direction, Gupta contacted an individual whom he believed to be a criminal associate, but who was in fact a confidential source working with the DEA for assistance in contracting a hitman to murder the victim in New York City.

    The confidential source introduced Gupta to a purported hitman, who was in fact a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) undercover officer.

    CC-1 subsequently agreed in dealings brokered by Gupta to pay the undercover officer USD 100,000 to murder the victim. Around June 9, 2023, CC-1 and Gupta arranged for an associate to deliver USD 15,000 in cash to the undercover officer as an advance payment for the murder. CC-1’s associate then delivered the $15,000 to the undercover officer in Manhattan.
    It also claims that there is a link between the alleged plot against Mr. Pannun and the plot to kill Hardeep Singh Nijjar, which Canada has accused Indian government agents of masterminding.

    (Read below 15 page Indictment of Gupta)
    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/11/29/us/u-s-v-gupta.html?unlocked_article_code=1.CU0.L1XM.lfk6G5U7-WVF&smid=url-share

    Gupta, described as an “international narcotics trafficker”, was arrested in the Czech Republic at the request of the United States in June 2023 in connection with his participation in the plot.

    The New York Times said in its report: “Reached by phone on Wednesday night, Mr. Pannun said he viewed the indictment of Mr. Gupta as “an indictment of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
    “The conspiracy and plot to kill me,” he said, “comes from the government of India.”

    Meanwhile, government of India has decided to take the US allegation of involvement of India in the failed assassination attempt seriously. India has set up a “high-level” enquiry committee to look into allegations made by the United States government regarding the Indian plot targeting Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a U.S.-based Khalistani activist wanted on terror charges, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced in New Delhi on Wednesday, November 29.

    (With inputs from New York Times and PTI)