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LONDON: The general counsel of pro-Khalistan Sikhs for Justice, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, has through his attorneys filed a civil lawsuit in a US federal district court against the Indian government, national security adviser Ajit Doval, and others, seeking damages for the alleged attempt to assassinate him on US soil last year.
Pannun, a US-Canadian dual citizen of Indian origin designated by India as a terrorist, had evaded an attempt on his life after a murder plot was foiled in June 2023.
The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in the district court for the southern district of New York, against the GOI, Doval, former R&AW chief Samant Goel, senior R&AW officer Vikram Yadav, and Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national incarcerated in a New York jail after being charged with murder for hire and murder-for-hire conspiracy for allegedly contracting hitmen to murder Pannun. The civil case is also against other “possible defendants whose identity is currently unknown”.
Pannun is seeking financial compensation for assault (in the US this includes attempt to cause physical harm) and inflicting extreme emotional distress. He claims his life is still under threat.
The lawsuit alleges that Yadav, directed by R&AW, recruited Gupta to hire hitmen to murder Pannun, and that the murder plot was approved by Goel and Doval. However, it was foiled as the hitmen were undercover US law enforcement agents. The complaint alleges that PM Modi knew about the murder plot but states that he is not named in the lawsuit as he has immunity as head of a foreign state.
The Indian government has already set up a high-level inquiry committee to investigate the allegations.
In the complaint Pannun says that it was not a “rogue operative” behind the plot and alleges that “India has been traced to over 20 recent international murders carried out by R&AW”. He refers to remarks PM Modi made in April when he said at a rally: “New India enters into enemy homes and kills them.” The complaint states that “Pannun faces a continued threat to his life from the GOI and its agents. The defendants should be required to compensate Pannun for the harm they caused and are continuing to cause.”
“This lawsuit seeks to hold the GOI and a number of high-ranking officials there accountable under US tort law,” said Pannun’s counsel, Matthew Borden of Braun Hagey & Borden LLP. “We aim to hold everyone involved in this plot accountable.”
“This is a civil claim for compensation to Pannun for the damages he has incurred,” Borden said. “The amount of damages we are going to seek will be proven at trial. It will be based on all the security he has had to engage,” he added, explaining the US court has jurisdiction of this case under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, 1976
The civil case is separate to the criminal proceedings Gupta is facing. “Under US law there is a lower standard of proof in civil cases and we are entitled to take discovery in a way that does not necessarily happen inside of criminal cases,” Borden explained. “This has a separate goal beyond punishing Gupta.”
In the complaint Pannun alleges he is being targeted because he campaigns for the creation of Khalistan and is organising an unofficial Khalistan referendum.
The complaint goes into great detail about the alleged plot to murder Pannun, claiming that Gupta promised to pay the undercover agents $100,000 to kill Pannun, and that he told the undercover agents there would be “more jobs once Pannun was assassinated”. It alleges Yadav told Gupta the murder could not happen during an upcoming trip to the US by high-ranking Indian officials. It claims that after Hardeep Singh Nijjar was assassinated on June 18, 2023 in Canada, Yadav sent Gupta a video clip of Nijjar’s body slumped in his truck. One hour later Yadav sent Gupta Pannun’s home address.
Pannun, a US-Canadian dual citizen of Indian origin designated by India as a terrorist, had evaded an attempt on his life after a murder plot was foiled in June 2023.
The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in the district court for the southern district of New York, against the GOI, Doval, former R&AW chief Samant Goel, senior R&AW officer Vikram Yadav, and Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national incarcerated in a New York jail after being charged with murder for hire and murder-for-hire conspiracy for allegedly contracting hitmen to murder Pannun. The civil case is also against other “possible defendants whose identity is currently unknown”.
Pannun is seeking financial compensation for assault (in the US this includes attempt to cause physical harm) and inflicting extreme emotional distress. He claims his life is still under threat.
The lawsuit alleges that Yadav, directed by R&AW, recruited Gupta to hire hitmen to murder Pannun, and that the murder plot was approved by Goel and Doval. However, it was foiled as the hitmen were undercover US law enforcement agents. The complaint alleges that PM Modi knew about the murder plot but states that he is not named in the lawsuit as he has immunity as head of a foreign state.
The Indian government has already set up a high-level inquiry committee to investigate the allegations.
In the complaint Pannun says that it was not a “rogue operative” behind the plot and alleges that “India has been traced to over 20 recent international murders carried out by R&AW”. He refers to remarks PM Modi made in April when he said at a rally: “New India enters into enemy homes and kills them.” The complaint states that “Pannun faces a continued threat to his life from the GOI and its agents. The defendants should be required to compensate Pannun for the harm they caused and are continuing to cause.”
“This lawsuit seeks to hold the GOI and a number of high-ranking officials there accountable under US tort law,” said Pannun’s counsel, Matthew Borden of Braun Hagey & Borden LLP. “We aim to hold everyone involved in this plot accountable.”
“This is a civil claim for compensation to Pannun for the damages he has incurred,” Borden said. “The amount of damages we are going to seek will be proven at trial. It will be based on all the security he has had to engage,” he added, explaining the US court has jurisdiction of this case under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, 1976
The civil case is separate to the criminal proceedings Gupta is facing. “Under US law there is a lower standard of proof in civil cases and we are entitled to take discovery in a way that does not necessarily happen inside of criminal cases,” Borden explained. “This has a separate goal beyond punishing Gupta.”
In the complaint Pannun alleges he is being targeted because he campaigns for the creation of Khalistan and is organising an unofficial Khalistan referendum.
The complaint goes into great detail about the alleged plot to murder Pannun, claiming that Gupta promised to pay the undercover agents $100,000 to kill Pannun, and that he told the undercover agents there would be “more jobs once Pannun was assassinated”. It alleges Yadav told Gupta the murder could not happen during an upcoming trip to the US by high-ranking Indian officials. It claims that after Hardeep Singh Nijjar was assassinated on June 18, 2023 in Canada, Yadav sent Gupta a video clip of Nijjar’s body slumped in his truck. One hour later Yadav sent Gupta Pannun’s home address.
