US demands “meaningful accountability” from India in Pannun case

VEDANT Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson for US Department of State, on Tuesday said “the United States won’t be fully satisfied until there is meaningful accountability” resulting from India’s investigation into the foiled plot to assassinate Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York City.

Last week, the department had announced that “an Indian Enquiry Committee that was established to investigate activities of certain organized criminals is actively investigating Nikhil Gupta, the individual who was identified last year in the Department of Justice’s indictment as an Indian government employee who directed” the plot to kill Pannun.

The Enquiry Committee was in Washington, D.C. last week as part of their ongoing investigations to discuss the case, including information they had obtained, and to receive an update from U.S. authorities regarding the U.S. case that is proceeding.

A reporter asked Patel at Tuesday’s press briefing if he could confirm media reports that suggested that the “United States has communicated to the Indian Government that it seeks meaningful accountability regarding the alleged murder plot of a Sikh activist in New York.”

Patel replied: “So to take a step back, there was valuable engagement with India’s inquiry committee last week, and information was exchanged between our two governments to further our respective investigations. We understand that the Indian inquiry committee will continue its investigation, and we expect to see further steps based on last week’s conversations.”

He said: “We continue to expect and want to see accountability based on the results of that investigation, and certainly the United States won’t be fully satisfied until there is meaningful accountability resulting from that investigation.”

Patel added: “Beyond that, I’m just not going to address this in further detail given that this is an issue that is active and remains under investigation and ongoing under both of our countries.”

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.