New Delhi: The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) issued a statement alongside the indictment of former RAW operative Vikash Yadav, accused of orchestrating the assassination of pro-Khalistan extremist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York. The statement implied that the U.S. is using this case to send a broader warning to other nations, such as China and Russia, which have also been accused of transnational operations against dissidents.

“The charges reflect a troubling rise in violent transnational repression targeting diaspora communities in the U.S.,” the DoJ said. It warned, “To governments contemplating such actions and to the communities they target, be assured the DoJ will expose and disrupt these plots, holding perpetrators accountable, no matter their location.”

According to the indictment, in May 2023, Yadav recruited Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national linked to narcotics and weapons trafficking, to arrange Pannun’s assassination. Gupta contacted someone he believed to be a criminal associate but who was actually a confidential source working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). The source connected Gupta with a supposed hitman, who was in fact an undercover DEA officer.

Yadav agreed to pay the hitman $100,000 for the murder, with an advance of $15,000 in cash already exchanged, evidenced by photographs included in the indictment. Gupta instructed the undercover agent not to carry out the hit during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the U.S. on June 20, 2023.

The indictment further alleges that Yadav recruited Gupta to organize the assassination in exchange for help in dismissing a criminal case against Gupta in India. Gupta was arrested earlier this year in Prague and extradited to the U.S., where he has pleaded not guilty as he awaits trial.