A US court has issued summonses to India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Samant Goel, former chief of the country’s intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). The court’s notice has already been delivered to them through the Indian Embassy in Washington DC.
The summonses were issued as part of a civil suit filed by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, leader of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ). Doval and Goel are named as defendants.
The suit alleges that Ajit Doval used RAW to plan Pannun’s murder. Pannun is also seeking damages for the alleged attempt on his life.
The Indian government listed Pannun as a terrorist several years ago and declared Sikhs for Justice, which he leads, an unlawful organisation. The group is linked to the Khalistan movement and is active in the United States and Canada. It is also accused of inciting violence against Indian diplomats and threatening attacks in India.
The main aim of the Khalistan movement is to carve Punjab out of India as an independent Sikh state called Khalistan. A bloody armed conflict raged in Punjab for decades until the movement largely subsided in the 1990s. Many groups and leaders linked to it later took refuge abroad. India alleges that they continue separatist activities, particularly from Canada.
Pannun’s civil suit comes as the US Justice Department is also pursuing a separate criminal case over the plot to kill him.
The new civil suit grew out of the US investigation of Indian national Nikhil Gupta. He was arrested in the Czech Republic in 2023 and extradited to the United States. The US Justice Department alleges that Gupta was involved in a plan to hire a contract killer to murder Pannun.
The US indictment says an Indian man named Vikash Yadav, allegedly linked at the time to RAW, India’s foreign intelligence agency, was involved in the plan. US authorities say they planned Pannun’s killing with the help of several others.
Earlier this year Nikhil Gupta admitted all the charges against him. He is due to be sentenced later this month.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report