Pannun Killing: US Reacts While India Dismisses Claims In The Washington Post Report

According to a US State Department official, the US is “regularly working” together with India to investigate the claims regarding the assassination plot of Khalistani activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

Vedant Patel, the principal deputy spokesperson for the US State Department, made the comments in response to The Washington Post’s report, which named a Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) official in connection with an alleged conspiracy to kill Pannun on US soil last year. The report cited unidentified sources.

India vehemently denied the allegations on Tuesday, stating that an investigation was being conducted and that the report contained “unwarranted and unsubstantiated” imputations on a sensitive subject.

Spokesman for the Indian External Affairs Ministry, Randhir Jaiswal, criticized the US Daily’s article on Tuesday. “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 organised criminals, terrorists, and others. Speculative and irresponsible comments on it are not helpful,” he said.

“We continue to expect accountability from the Government of India based on the results of the Indian inquiry committee’s work,” Patel stated during his daily news conference on Tuesday. “We are regularly working with them and enquiring for additional updates.”

Patel responded, “We’ll also continue to raise our concerns directly with the Indian Government at senior levels, but beyond that, I’m not going to parse into this further and will defer to the Department of Justice,” in response to a question concerning The Washington Post report that named the RAW officer as Vikram Yadav and claimed he was a part of the plot to kill Pannun.