"He never mentioned anything about it."
The family of a former Indian spy charged with orchestrating a foiled murder plot against a Sikh separatist leader in New York in 2023 said he has rejected the accusations.
Vikash Yadav, a former officer in India’s foreign intelligence service, is charged with money laundering, conspiracy and leading a murder-for-hire scheme.
According to the indictment, Yadav was an officer in the Research and Analysis Wing.
India said it is investigating the allegations. It also claimed that Yadav is no longer a government employee, but has not disclosed if he has ever been an intelligence officer.
The ex-Indian spy’s cousin Avinash said he discussed the allegations with Yadav, who described them as false media reports.
Referring to Yadav’s supposed employment with the spy service, Avinash said:
“The family has no information. He never mentioned anything about it.
“For us, he is still working for the CRPF. He told us he is deputy commandant.”
Avinash said he did not know Yadav’s whereabouts, only that he lived with his wife and infant daughter.
Yadav and Nikhil Gupta are accused of plotting the murder of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual US-Canadian citizen who founded Sikhs for Justice.
The organisation is banned in India, which has called Mr Pannun a “terrorist”.
Gupta, who was extradited to the US from the Czech Republic earlier in 2024, remains in a Brooklyn jail. He has pleaded not guilty.
Reportedly, Yadav was arrested in Delhi on November 18, 2023. He and an associate were charged with attempted murder, according to a filing in a Delhi district court.
His lawyer RK Hindoo said the charges brought against his client by Delhi police were “fallacious” and that there was “an international plot to bring shame on the government of India and my client”.
It is not known where Yadav is now.
There are reports that he is still in India and that the United States would seek his extradition.
The ex-Indian spy’s mother Sudesh said:
“He has been working for the country.”
Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olson, of the US Justice Department, said the indictment is a “grave example of the increase in lethal plotting and other forms of violent transnational repression targeting diaspora communities in the United States”.
The accusations against Yadav and Gupta that seemingly implicate the Indian government follow similar charges made by Canada over the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader in June 2023.
India rejects the “preposterous imputations” made by Canadian authorities and decries it as a political agenda of the Justin Trudeau government.
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