India Constitutes High Level Committee To Investigate US Allegations Of Foiled Assassination Plot

Just hours prior to the U.S. Justice Department formally charging Nikhil Gupta, 52, for his alleged role in orchestrating a murder attempt in collaboration with an Indian government official handling security and intelligence matters in New York City, the Indian government announced on Wednesday the formation of a high-level inquiry committee to investigate all relevant aspects of the case.

Arindam Bagchi, the spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, revealed that India had established the inquiry committee on November 18 to comprehensively examine the matter. Bagchi emphasized that India treats such information seriously, especially when it concerns national security interests. He explained that during discussions with the U.S. on bilateral security cooperation, India had received inputs about connections between organized criminals, gun runners, terrorists, and others.

“In this context,” Bagchi stated, “it is informed that on November 18, the Government of India constituted a high-level enquiry committee to look into all the relevant aspects of the matter.” He further asserted that India would take necessary follow-up actions based on the committee’s findings.

“We have already said that during the course of discussions with the US on bilateral security cooperation, the US side shared some inputs pertaining to nexus between organised criminals, gun runners, terrorists and others. We had also indicated that India takes such inputs seriously since they impinge on our national security interests as well, and relevant departments were already examining the issue,” said Bagchi.

Bagchi highlighted the distinct response India provided to the U.S. inputs compared to its reaction to Canadian allegations, which were dismissed as “absurd and motivated.”

Earlier in the week, Indian High Commissioner to Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma, pointed out that the U.S. had shared “legally presentable” inputs with Delhi regarding “Indian connections” in the alleged plot. In contrast, Ottawa had only shared “allegations” related to the killing of separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Verma clarified that the Indian connections mentioned by the U.S. were not “Government of India connections” but were associated with individuals in India.

This marked the first instance where a senior Indian official distinguished between the information shared by the U.S. and Canada concerning the alleged assassination plots against separatists.

Parvasi Media Group