OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that US accusations that an Indian government official directed a failed plot to kill a Sikh leader in the US underlines the need for India to take similar allegations by Canada very seriously, Western media reported on Wednesday.
Earlier, the U.S. Justice Department stated that a man worked with an Indian government employee, whose tasks included security and intelligence, on the plot to kill a New York City dweller who advocated for a Sikh sovereign state in Punjab, India.
Priem Minister Trudeau told journalists in Ottawa, “The news coming out of the US further underlines what we’ve been talking regarding from the very start, which is that the New Delhi needs to take this seriously,”.
India Must Take “Canada’s Accusations Seriously”: PM Trudeau After New York City Plot
The United States charges come around two months after Canada stated there were “credible” allegations connecting Indian agents to the killing of a Sikh leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in Canada.
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Meanwhile, the United States filed charges against an Indian national, Nikhil Gupta, for his alleged involvement in a murder-for-hire plot targeting an American citizen and political activist in New York. The intended victim, advocating for a separate state for the Sikh community within India, has not been named in court documents. US Attorney Damian Williams emphasized the severity of the plot, stating, “We will not tolerate acts to assassinate US citizens on American soil.” The victim is believed to be Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the general counsel for Sikhs for Justice, an organization based in New York advocating for an independent Sikh state called Khalistan within India. The indictment suggests that Gupta was directed by an Indian government employee to orchestrate the assassination, heightening tensions between the US and India.
The court documents revealed that the Indian government employee collaborated with Gupta to hire a hitman for the assassination attempt. The Indian government employee agreed to pay $100,000 to an undercover US law enforcement officer posing as the hitman. The assassination attempt was thwarted by US authorities.
