‘Speculative, irresponsible’: India slams Washington Post report on ‘hit team’ involving RAW official

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun assassination plot: India has slammed The Washington Post’s report that named the RAW official, allegedly involved in the plot to assassinate Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on US soil. The earlier unnamed official has been identified by The Washington Post as Vikram Yadav, who had involved Nikhil Gupta, in an attempt to assassinate Pannun. The report also alleged that RAW chief Samant Goel had approved the operation.

“The report in question makes unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations on a serious matter. There is an ongoing investigation of the High Level Committee set up by the government of India to look into the security concerns shared by the US government on networks of organised criminals, terrorists and others. Speculative and irresponsible comments on it are not helpful,” said Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal.

According to The Washington Post report, Yadav had forwarded details about Pannun, including his New York address. It stated that Goel was under “extreme pressure to eliminate the alleged threat of Sikh extremists overseas”.

The plot to assassinate Pannun coincided with the killing of another Khalistani terrorist, Hardeen Singh Nijjar in Canada. The report stated that after ramping up its “surveillance and harassment” of Sikhs and other groups “perceived as disloyal to the Modi government”, many RAW and agents have faced arrest, expulsion and reprimand in Australia, Germany and Britain.

On Monday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the Indian government is taking this matter very seriously. "We expect accountability from the government based on that. But we are going to continue to raise our concerns. That's not going to stop. We're going to continue to raise our concerns directly, with the Indian government," the press secretary added.