US report ‘identifies’ RAW official in plot to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 29

A US media report has claimed that the alleged RAW official who masterminded the failed plot to kill Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun has been identified as Vikram Yadav, and that the entire operation was approved by the now-superannuated RAW chief Samant Goel.

“That India would pursue lethal operations in North America has stunned western security officials. Yadav’s identity and affiliation, which have not previously been reported, provide the most explicit evidence to date that the assassination plan — ultimately thwarted by the US authorities—was directed from within the Indian spy service,” reported the US daily The Washington Post.

“Higher-ranking RAW officials have also been implicated, according to current and former western security officials, as part of a sprawling investigation by the CIA, FBI and other agencies that have mapped potential links to (PM) Modi’s inner circle,” it said. The daily is probing a rise in such operations, which it calls “cross-border repression” and had interviewed a large number of officials, experts and targeted individuals in New Delhi, Washington, Ottawa, London, Prague and Berlin, it said. “In reports that have been closely held within the American government, US agencies have assessed that the operation targeting Pannun was approved by the RAW chief at the time, Samant Goel,” it said.

“US spy agencies have more tentatively assessed that Modi’s NSA Ajit Doval was probably aware of RAW’s plans to kill Sikh activists, but officials emphasised that no smoking gun proof has emerged,” it reported. The Indian Government had set up a probe panel, which claimed that a rogue RAW official, since retired, had midwifed the operation against Pannun. But the only US charges are against an alleged middleman, Nikhil Gupta, who tried to hire a contract killer.

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