WASHINGTON: The Washington Post published an article on Monday that painted a damning picture of New Delhi’s operations abroad and the complicity of its top leadership in such transnational suppression, even as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi basked in American adulation. “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 article said.
A hired hit team received instructions from Vikram Yadav, an officer in India’s spy agency RAW, according to The Post, while Modi was receiving lavish entertainment at the White House last year.
According to current and former Western security sources, higher-ranking RAW officials have also been linked as part of an extensive probe by the CIA, FBI, and other agencies that has traced possible connections to Modi’s inner circle.
According to sources that are “closely held within the American government,” US intelligence agencies have determined that the operation against Pannun was authorized by Samant Goel, the RAW chief at the time, according to The Post.
An investigation by the Washington Post describes how RAW operatives hired “hit-men” to kill dissidents on US soil.
Yadav declared, “The assassination is a priority now,” ordering assassins to go after and murder Sikh activists in North America.
“A growing wave of aggression against dissident groups seeking protection in other countries includes assassination plots by India in the United States and Canada,” The Post wrote.
According to the article, Yadav’s document suggested that the Indian government was becoming more and more inclined to send operatives across borders to crush political opponents, so disregarding the sovereignty of the host nation.
Yadav sent information about the target, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh activist, including his residence in New York. Pannun is a US citizen, so as soon as the would-be killers could verify that he was home, “it will be a go ahead from us,” according to the memo cited in the story.
Ajit Doval, Modi’s national security adviser, was reportedly informed by US espionage agencies that RAW was planning to kill Sikh activists, according to the story. However, sources emphasized that no concrete proof had been found. The Post contacted Doval and Goel via phone and text message, but neither one returned our messages.
The investigation also revealed startling details of purported RAW-led murder plans that targeted Modi’s opponents who were residing in the US and Canada. These revelations illuminated the extent to which India suppressed dissent outside of its boundaries and the ensuing diplomatic ramifications.
According to officials, the US operation demonstrates how RAW attempted to export strategies it has been using for years in nations that border India, including the employment of crime syndicates for activities it doesn’t want linked to New Delhi, as reported by The Post.
Based on interviews with a wide range of officials and experts in multiple countries, The Post’s research brought to light RAW’s growing campaign of aggression directed towards the Indian diaspora across the globe. Because Sikhs are thought to be disloyal to the Modi government, they have been targeted.
