India has dismissed as “unwarranted and unsubstantiated” allegations made by The Washington Post that an Indian intelligence officer hired a hit team to kill US-based Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
The report published on Sunday alleged US intelligence agencies have assessed that the operation to kill Pannun was approved by Samant Goel, the then chief of India’s spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
“The report in question makes unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations on a serious matter,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement.
“There is an ongoing investigation of the high-level committee set up by the government of India to look into the security concerns shared by the US government on networks of organised criminals, terrorists, and others,” Mr Jaiswal said.
“Speculative and irresponsible comments on it are not helpful,” he said.
The US Justice Department had indicted an Indian national in the alleged foiled assassination plot. It alleged an Indian government employee (named CC-1), who was not identified in the indictment filed in a federal court in Manhattan, recruited an Indian national named Nikhil Gupta to hire a hitman to allegedly carry out the assassination of the Sikh Separatist, which was foiled by US authorities.
Canada has also alleged Indian government agents were involved in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia. India has regularly pointed out, however, that Canada has been consistently giving space to anti-India extremists.