India slams Washington Post report on Pannun assassination plot

Dismisses report tying alleged plot to assassinate pro-Khalistan lawyer to Indian spy service as “speculative and irresponsible” 

India has dismissed as “speculative and irresponsible” a Washington Post report suggesting that an Indian spy agency directed an alleged foiled plan to assassinate pro-Khalistan lawyer Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil.

Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, Tuesday termed the report as “speculative and unnecessary” especially when an investigation is going on in the matter.

“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 organized criminals, terrorists and others,” he posted on X. “Speculative and irresponsible comments on it are not helpful.”

Our response to media queries on a story in The Washington Post:https://t.co/ifYYng7CT3 pic.twitter.com/LEIso6euN6

— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) April 30, 2024

In a front-page report Tuesday, the Post suggested the assassination plot tied to Delhi’s spy service targeted Pannun even as President Joe Biden courted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

READ: Diaspora brings India’s caste bias inside Google: Washington Post (June 2, 2022)

“The White House went to extraordinary lengths last year to welcome Modi in a state visit meant to bolster ties with an ascendant power and potential partner against China,” it wrote. “But even as the Indian leader was basking in US adulation on June 22, an officer in India’s intelligence service was relaying final instructions to a hired hit team to kill one of Modi’s most vocal critics in the United States.”

“The assassination is a ‘priority now’ wrote Vikram Yadav, an officer in India’s spy agency, the Research and Analysis wing, or RAW,” the Post wrote citing unnamed current and former US and Indian security officials.

Yadav forwarded details about the target, Sikh activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, including his New York address, Post claimed citing officials and a US indictment. “As soon as the would-be assassins could confirm that Pannun, a US citizen, was home, ‘it will be a go-ahead from us.’”

“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 US authorities— was directed from within the Indian spy service,” the Post suggested.

Higher-ranking RAW officials have also been implicated, the newspaper said citing “current and former Western security officials, as part of a sprawling investigation by the CIA, FBl and other agencies that has mapped potential links to Modi’s inner circle.”