Waiting for Indian probe results in Pannun case: US

WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI: The US State Department has said that it takes very seriously allegations of a plot to eliminate Khalistani separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the US and that it is waiting “to see the results” of a probe panel set up by India to look into the allegations.

State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller, answering a question on the issue, told reporters:

“When it comes to the State Department, we made clear when these allegations were first made public that it’s something we think India should take very seriously and investigate.”

“They opened a committee of inquiry to look into the matter, and that work is ongoing, and we’ll wait to see the results. But we made it very clear that it’s something that we take seriously and we think it’s something they should take seriously as well,” he said.

On April 30, the Ministry of External Affairs had dismissed a Washington Post report naming a RAW officer as allegedly involved in a failed attempt to kill Pannun in the US.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had termed the Washington Post report as “unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations.”

Jaiswal had said that a probe by a high-level committee set up by the Indian government to look into “security concerns shared by the US” and that “speculative and irresponsible comments on it are not helpful.”

In November last year, US federal prosecutors charged an Indian national named Nikhil Gupta with working with an Indian government employee in the foiled plot to kill Pannun.

Pannun, who is wanted in India on terror charges, holds dual citizenship of the US and Canada. He has been designated as a terrorist by the Union Home Ministry.