According to a story published in the Financial Times, United States (US) authorities foiled a conspiracy to assassinate designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on US soil and has also issued a warning the New Delhi over concerns of the India government's involvement.
While the report attributed the information to "multiple people familiar with the case," it did not confirm whether its warning to India led to the scheme stopping in its tracks before it began or whether the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) foiled a plan already in motion.
The report added that apart from the "diplomatic warning," federal prosecutors filed a sealed indictment "against at least one alleged perpetrator of the plot in a New York district court."
The Financial Times report comes just a few months after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in September, had alleged the involvement of Indian government officials in the killing of Khalistani Tiger Force chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
The US justice department is debating whether to unseal the indictment and make the allegations public or wait until Canada finishes its investigation into Nijjar’s murder. Further complicating the case, one person charged in the indictment is believed to have left the US, according to people familiar with the proceedings.
While Pannun did not comment on whether US warned him about the alleged plot, he told the Financial Times that he would would “let the US government respond to the issue of threats to my life on American soil from the Indian operatives”.
“The threat to an American citizen on American soil is a challenge to America’s sovereignty, and I trust that the Biden administration is more than capable to handle any such challenge,” he further told the outlet.
On 20 November, India's National Investigation Agency had registered a case against Pannun and his banned organisation Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) for issuing video messages threatening people flying Air India.
In a video that has surfaced on social media, the Sikhs for Justice chief was purportedly heard calling for a "global blockade" of the airport on November 4.
Pannun threatened the total shutdown of Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport on 19 November and asked Sikhs not to travel by Air India on the date as their "lives would be in danger".
He became active over the last few months in the backdrop of a diplomatic stand-off between India and Canada over the death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey on 18 June.
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