Washington: The Biden administration has asserted that it is working with India to hold those behind a foiled plot to assassinate India-designated Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun accountable for the "terrible crime". An Indian national Nikhil Gupta was charged by US prosecutors last year for his involvement in a foiled plot to murder Pannun.
During a Congressional hearing on Wednesday, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu told members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, "This is a serious issue. A serious issue between the United States and India. The Department of Justice has alleged that an Indian citizen at the behest of someone working in the Indian government has attempted to kill an American citizen on American soil."
"We are at the moment working with India to encourage India to hold accountable, those responsible for this terrible crime. What we can see is that India itself has announced that they have created a committee of inquiry to look into this matter and we ask them to work quickly and transparently to make sure justice is done," Lu said.
Lu was asked about the issue during a US Congressional hearing on the Pakistan election on Wednesday. Congressman Dean Phillips from Minnesota asked if sanctions similar to those placed on more than 500 individuals relating to the killing of Lexie Navalny in Russia are being considered for those believed to be behind the plot to kill Pannun.
Who is behind the Pannun case?
US federal prosecutors have charged that Nikhil Gupta was working with an Indian government employee and had agreed to pay an assassin $100,000 to kill Pannun, who lives in New York City. India has already constituted a probe committee to investigate the allegations.
Earlier this year, a US judge denied Gupta's request for defence materials pertaining to his indictment in the foiled assassination attempt. This came after federal prosecutors in the US objected to sending proof of charges against Gupta till he made an appearance in a New York court.
Gupta’s attorney in New York Jeff Chabrowe filed a ‘Motion to Compel Production of Discovery’ on January 4 in the US District Court of Southern District of New York seeking to direct federal prosecutors to provide “the defence materials relevant to its ability to defend the instant charges".
Gupta’s counsel in New York Jeff Chabrowe has said in his motion that the attorney representing Gupta in Prague in his extradition proceedings states that “no evidence or documentation of any sort has been given to him other than the US indictment itself". He said Gupta has been interviewed in Prague “by groups of senior US agents on several occasions and continues to be interviewed".
India-US relationship stronger than ever: Pentagon
Amid concerns that the Pannun case can damage India-US relations, officials from the American Defence Department that bilateral ties between the two nations is growing and is strronger than ever. "I would describe the US-India relationship as growing and stronger than it has ever been and absolutely essential to our vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific," said Assistant Secretary of Defence for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely S. Ratner.
"We have been strengthening a number of areas across the relationship including in co-production, where we've made some major strides on jet engines, some new projects on armoured vehicles to integrate our defence industrial base, which is one important way to make those bonds all the stronger," Ratner added.
Ranking Member Adam Smith while describing India as 'crucial', noted that New Delhi was a "swing vote" due to its ties with Russia, US' top adversary. "They have relationships, across the world with many of our adversaries. Getting them to work with us more going forward I think is crucial to meeting our needs," he said. In response, Ratner said India aspires towards an international system based on principle of multipolarity, but has been trending towards strategic convergence with the US.
This comes after the US State Department on February 1 approved the sale of 31 MQ-9B armed drones to India at an estimated cost of $3.99 billion after "painstaking discussions" over the Pannun case, according to US Senator Ben Cardin.
(with inputs from PTI)
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