A former Indian intelligence official is facing federal charges in the U.S. for allegedly orchestrating a foiled plot to assassinate an American citizen in New York City who is a leader in the movement pushing for an independent Sikh homeland.

The indictment against Vikash Yadav, unsealed in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday, points to a direct link between the Indian government and what prosecutors say was a murder-for-hire scheme on American soil.

The Justice Department first announced charges in the case last year, indicting an Indian national and alleged drug and weapons trafficker, Nikhil Gupta. That indictment also referred to an unnamed Indian government official whom prosecutors said directed the scheme.

The new indictment unsealed Thursday identifies that official as Yadav and makes him a co-defendant in the case. Yadav and Gupta each face charges of murder-for-hire conspiracy, murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Gupta was arrested last year in the Czech Republic and extradited to the U.S. He has pleaded not guilty. Yadav, meanwhile, remains at large, according to the Justice Department.

“The Justice Department will be relentless in holding accountable any person — regardless of their position or proximity to power — who seeks to harm and silence American citizens,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement.

The alleged target

The target of the alleged plot was Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen, lawyer and political activist. He is the general counsel of Sikhs for Justice and an advocate for the creation of a Sikh state carved out from northern India.

Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun is pictured in his office on Nov. 29, 2023, in New York. Federal prosecutors say a former Indian intelligence official directed a plot to assassinate Pannun in New York City after he advocated for a sovereign state for Sikhs.

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Pannun welcomed the indictment against Yadav, saying the “U.S. government has reassured its commitment to fundamental constitutional duty to protect the life, liberty and freedom of expression of the U.S. citizen at home and abroad.”

“The attempt on my life on American soil is the blatant case of India’s transnational terrorism which has become a challenge to America’s sovereignty and threat to freedom of speech and democracy,” Pannun said in a statement.

Another Sikh separatist leader was gunned down in Canada

At the same time that the plot against Pannun was allegedly in motion, another Sikh separatist leader and close associate of Pannun, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was gunned down in Canada.

Canadian authorities have arrested four Indian nationals in connection with Nijjar’s murder. This week, Canada said that India’s top diplomat in the country and five other Indian diplomats were persons of interest in the investigation. Canada expelled all six of the Indian diplomats.

Canadian authorities also said they had found evidence that Indian diplomats have been involved in a campaign against Canadian citizens.

“We will never tolerate the involvement of a foreign government threatening and killing Canadian citizens on Canadian soil,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

India has rejected the accusations.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly (right) and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc speaks during a press conference on October 14 in Ottawa, after Canada expelled six top Indian diplomats.

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Nijjar’s assassination and the alleged plot against Pannun has raised questions about India’s actions abroad, and complicated the U.S. relationship with India. The Biden administration views India as an important counterbalance to China.

After the U.S. announced last year that it had foiled the attempt on Pannun’s life, India launched its own internal inquiry to look into the matter — an effort viewed with skepticism in Washington.

This week, Indian officials involved in that inquiry were in the U.S. for meetings with their American counterparts to discuss the respective investigations. A spokesman for the State Department called the talks “productive.”

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Israel said on Thursday it had killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the architect of last year’s October 7 attack which triggered the deadliest war in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Sinwar’s death would be a pivotal moment in the year of fighting, delivering a severe blow to the Palestinian militant group and a symbolic victory to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Israel Defense Forces said Sinwar had been killed on Wednesday by soldiers from its southern command in the south of the Gaza Strip, without giving further details. Hamas did not immediately confirm Sinwar’s death.

Netanyahu hailed Sinwar’s death as a “victory of good over evil” and “the beginning of the day after Hamas” rule in Gaza, adding that those militants still holding Israeli hostages in the enclave now had an opportunity to release them and be allowed to live.

“Hamas will no longer rule Gaza . . . The return of our hostages is an opportunity to achieve all our goals and it brings the end of the war closer,” he added.

Diplomats have begun discussions with Netanyahu’s government about offering Hamas a two to three-day “pause” in Israel’s military offensive in return for the release of the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza, a western official said.

The deal would also involve a guarantee regarding the physical safety of Hamas fighters who freed hostages and a resumption of diplomatic talks in Cairo on an end to the war, the official added.

A person familiar with the situation said Israel’s hostage negotiators had been holding emergency discussions on how to “leverage” Sinwar’s killing to secure the release of Israelis held in Gaza.

Killing Sinwar was one of the goals of the devastating assault on Gaza that Israel launched in response to Hamas’s October 7 attack on the Jewish state — during which militants killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

But for more than a year Sinwar, who was believed to be hiding in Hamas’s vast network of tunnels, remained elusive, even as Israel’s offensive laid waste to Gaza, killing more than 42,000 people, according to Palestinian officials, and fuelling a humanitarian catastrophe.

Sinwar took over leadership of Hamas this summer, after his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh was killed by an alleged Israeli explosion in Tehran in July.

The 61-year-old, also known as Abu Ibrahim, is widely considered to have masterminded Hamas’s assault last October, together with Mohammed Deif, chief of the Qassam Brigades, the group’s military wing.

Deif, along with much of the top Hamas military leadership in Gaza, has been killed over the past year in Israeli air strikes.

Israeli officials had vowed they would get to Sinwar too, describing him as a “dead man walking”.

Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said on Thursday that Sinwar’s death was “a clear message to all of our enemies — the IDF will reach anyone who attempts to harm the citizens of Israel or our security forces, and we will bring you to justice”.

Sinwar, originally from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, had helped build the Qassam Brigades from their inception in the 1980s.

He then spent nearly two decades in Israeli prison but was released in 2011 as part of a swap deal for a seized Israeli soldier.

Once back in Gaza, he rose swiftly through the ranks of Hamas. He became the key interlocutor between the group’s political and military wings and ultimately assumed leadership over the entire territory.

Many people in the pulverised Gaza Strip believe Sinwar started the war with Israel recklessly and some were unmoved on Thursday by news of his death. 

“I thought I would feel happy if Sinwar was killed,” said 28-year-old Mohammad Nafiz, who lives in Khan Younis.

Instead, he said “it feels mixed and weird. [Sinwar] started the whole thing. If his death is not leading to an end of the war then there’s nothing to be happy for. He is just another martyr like tens of thousands.” 

Cartography by Steven Bernard