As per the US indictment, Vikash Yadav served as an officer in the CRPF, and has counter intelligence training, apart from being trained in weapons and battlecraft.
Vikash Yadav, a former employee of the Indian government who has been indicted in the United States in the foiled plot to assassinate New York-based Khalistani separatist leader Gurpawant Singh Pannun, formerly served as an assistant commandant in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and is trained in “battle craft, counter intelligence, and weapons”.
Who is Vikash Yadav?
Hailing from Pranpura in Rewari, Haryana, Vikash Yadav, 39, who is now wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the Pannun assassination plot case, also goes by aliases, ‘Vikas’ and ‘Amanat’, according to the US indictment.
“(Vikash) Yadav is a citizen and resident of India. During times relevant to this superseding indictment, Yadav was employed by the Cabinet Secretariat of the Government of India, which houses India’s foreign intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). RAW is an arm of the Cabinet Secretariat. Yadav has described his position as a ‘senior field officer’ with responsibilities in ‘security management’ and ‘intelligence’…he has listed his employer’s address as the CGO Complex in New Delhi, where RAW is headquartered,” the US indictment stated.
As per indictment, Vikash Yadav served as an officer in the CRPF, and has counter intelligence training, apart from being trained in weapons and battlecraft.
“He described his position there as an ‘assistant commandant’ with command of a 135-member company. Yadav has reported receiving counter intelligence, battle craft, weapons and paratrooper training,” it said.
A picture of Yadav dressed in military fatigues was also published by the US indictment. Earlier, US had said that Yadav remains at large.
Pannun assassination plot
According to the US indictment, Vikash Yadav recruited Nikhil Gupta and the duo planned to approach Pannun, who is a lawyer by profession, under the pretext of obtaining legal advice and lure him to a place “where he could be more easily executed”. Later, they changed the plan and decided to strike Pannun, “at his house, office or the café he visited, it said, adding the assassination plot was foiled when Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic.
The US indictment alleged that Nikhil Gupta contacted a criminal associate in the US, who was in fact a “confidential source” (CS) working with law enforcement agencies. Gupta offered $1,00,000 to the CS to hire a hitman for the job and $15000 was paid in advance to the hitman on June 9 through a purported associate of Yadav.
The assistance of CS was allegedly sought to contract a hitman for the job, and CS put Gupta in touch with an undercover US law enforcement officer. The deal was struck at $1,00,000 and $15000 was paid in advance on June 9 to this hitman through an associate of Yadav, US said.
Responding to the US claims, India said it has expelled Vikash Yadav from service and that he may have acted on his own accord, maintaining that the Indian state is not in anyway involved in the alleged plot to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.