An Indian government employee was charged by the Justice Department in the United States for his connection with a foiled plot to kill Sikh separatist leader who is an U.S. citizen in New York City.
The man identified as Vikash Yadav remains at large but faces murder-for-hire charges in federal court.
The murder-for-hire plot was first disclosed by federal prosecutors last year when they announced charges against a man, Nikhil Gupta, who a then-unidentified Indian government employee recruited to orchestrate the assassination of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist leader in New York.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Thursday said that an Indian inquiry committee was set up in connection with alleged foiled plot to kill Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun and a meeting was held with the officials in the US, India on Thursday which said it has taken inputs provided by the US "very seriously".
In response to another query on the person identified in an indictment of the US Department of Justice (DoJ) in connection with the case, Jaiswal confirmed that the person is "no longer an employee of the government of India".
The US earlier said the Indian government has expressed seriousness in dealing with the allegations of the plot to kill Pannun.
A team of Indian officials had a meeting recently with the officials of the State Department and Department of Justice in Washington.
Following the allegations by the US, India appointed a high-level inquiry committee to look into the inputs provided by the US on the plot.
Two members of the committee travelled to the US and had a meeting with the US officials, Jaiswal said.
"These are members of high-level inquiry committee that had been set up in November 2023 to look into the inputs that had been shared with us by the US, and we have taken these inputs very seriously...we remain engaged with the US side on this particular matter," he told reporters.
In November last year, US federal prosecutors charged Indian national Nikhil Gupta of working with an Indian government employee in the foiled plot to kill Pannun in New York.
Pannun, wanted in India on terror charges, holds dual citizenship of the US and Canada.
Gupta, who was arrested in the Czech Republic in June last year, was extradited to the US on June 14.
The US has consistently pressed India for updates on the Indian investigation into the alleged foiled plot to kill Pannun and made it clear that it seeks accountability in the case, a senior Biden administration official had said in June.
US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell had said the US raised the issue directly at the most senior levels of the Indian government.
On Tuesday, the US had alleged that India was not cooperating with Canada on the latter's investigation into the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year.
