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Earlier this week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government only had “intelligence” and not “evidentiary proof” of links between Indian government officials and the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Nijjar. The “intelligence” Trudeau is speaking of might be linked to the US indictment of a former Indian intelligence officer, identified as CC-1, in the failed plot to kill Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
On Thursday, US prosecutors named Vikash Yadav as the official behind the foiled murder plot and charged him with “murder-for-hire and money laundering”. The charges were part of a second indictment that was unsealed in a New York court. Yadav’s alleged co-conspirator, Nikhil Gupta, was previously charged and extradited to the United States.
According to a US indictment, which has not been made public yet, investigators have claimed to have uncovered direct links between the accused in the Pannun case and Nijjar’s murder.
The indictment allegedly mentions that hours after Nijjar was gunned down in his car on June 18 outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara temple in Surrey, ‘CC1’ (Vikash Yadav) shared a real-time video showing the Khalistani terrorist’s body with Nikhil Gupta. However, it is not known who shot and sent the video to Yadav.
The US said Yadav was a former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) officer and used “Amanat” as an alias when communicating with his co-conspirator to facilitate the murder plot. Releasing his pictures, the FBI said his place of birth was Pranpura in Haryana.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that the person mentioned in the US indictment over the foiled assassination plot of Pannun was no longer employed by the Indian government.
Both Canada and the US are part of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, which also includes the UK, Australia and New Zealand. It is likely that this information of Nijjar’s video being shared by Yadav is the “intelligence” Canada is speaking of while accusing Indian agents of allegedly being involved in the killing of the terrorist.
However, Canada has failed to provide any concrete proof to India regarding its charges.
The development comes at a time when the strain in the India-Canada ties has spiked dramatically after the Canadian government alleged that Indian diplomats were “persons of interest” in the Nijjar murder investigation. India responded by withdrawing these diplomats, and expelling six Canadian diplomats from the country.