India on Wednesday said it has constituted a high-level enquiry committee to probe allegations relating to a conspiracy to kill Sikh extremist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on the US soil.
Announcing this here, the External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said India will take necessary follow-up action based on the findings of the committee.
The Financial Times, citing unnamed sources, last week reported that US authorities thwarted a plot to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, and issued a warning to the Indian Government over concerns it was involved in the plot. Bagchi said India constituted a high-level inquiry committee on November 18 to look into all the relevant aspects of the matter.
Pannun, a Sikh extremist and known to be an American and Canadian citizen, is wanted by Indian probe agencies on various terror charges.
“We have already said during the course of discussions
with the US on bilateral
security cooperation, the US side shared some inputs
pertaining to nexus between organised criminals, gun
runners, terrorists and others,†Bagchi said.
“We had also indicated that India takes such inputs seriously since they impinge on our national security interests as well, and relevant departments were already examining the issue,†he said.
The Financial Times report came weeks after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made allegations of a “potential†involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in a Vancouver suburb in June.
Following the report, Bagchi on November 22 said the US side shared some inputs pertaining to nexus between organised criminals, gun runners, terrorists and others.
He said the inputs are a “cause of concern†for both countries and they decided to take necessary follow up action.
The media report about the alleged plot to kill Pannun came about two months after Trudeau alleged in September that there was a potential link between Indian Government agents and the killing of
another Khalistani leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down in the parking lot of a gurdwara in the town of Surrey in June. India strongly denied the charges, describing them as absurd.
