The US indictment includes a photo of Vikash Yadav in military uniform. (Image: FBI)
The United States has accused former Indian government official Vikash Yadav of directing Panun’s murder to another Indian national, Nikhil Gupta, who claims to have paid the hitman $15,000.
The family of a former Indian government official indicted by the United States in a murder-for-hire case has dismissed the charges and expressed doubts about the veracity of the allegations against him.
Vikash Yadav, 39, has been indicted by the US government for his alleged role in a plot to kill Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Panun. He was placed on the FBI’s “wanted” list.
Yadav described the claims as false media reports when he spoke to his cousin Avinash Yadav in his ancestral village, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the capital New Delhi, on Saturday, a relative told Reuters. Ta.
The U.S. Department of Justice last year indicted Yadav on charges of leading an attempted murder of Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Panun. According to the indictment unsealed on Thursday, Yadav was an employee of India’s spy agency, the Research and Analysis Wing.
India said it was investigating the allegations but did not say whether Yadav was an intelligence officer, saying he was no longer a government employee.
“The family has no information” about him working for a spy agency, said Yadav’s cousin in Haryana’s Puranpura village. Despite the two speaking regularly, “he never mentioned anything about it.”
“For us, he is still working in the CRPF,” said Avinash Yadav, 28, of the Union Central Reserve Police Force, from which he joined in 2009. “He told us he was second in command,” and was trained as a paratrooper.
A cousin said he did not know where Yadav was, but that he lived with his wife and daughter, who was born last year.
Indian authorities have not commented on Yadav’s whereabouts. The Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing U.S. officials, that Yadav is still in India and that the U.S. is expected to seek his extradition.
His mother, Sudesh Yadav, 65, said she was still in a state of shock. “What can I say? I don’t know if the U.S. government is telling the truth.”
“Do you see the Audi?”: Yadav family
The United States accused Mr. Yadav of directing Mr. Panun’s murder to another Indian national, Nikhil Gupta, who claimed to have paid the hitman $15,000.
But in Puranpura, Mr. Yadav’s cousin pointed to his family’s modest one-story house and said: Can you see the Audi and Mercedes lined up outside this house? ”
Local residents say most of the approximately 500 families living in the village have traditionally sent young people to serve in the security forces.
Avinash Yadav said his father, who passed away in 2007, was an officer with the Indian Border Security Force and his brother works with the Haryana police.
(With input from agency)
