'Recruited by Indian official, accused hired 'hitman' to kill Pannun' |
The indictment signed by Damian Williams, the United States Attorney,
describes the official as "an identified Indian Govern-ment employee
("CC-1")" who "directed a plot to assassinate...", but was not named. He
recruited Gupta for the job.
The indictment included a photo of the advance payment made to the
"hitman" in a car by an associate of Nikhil Gupta in the Manhattan
borough of New York City on June 9.
WAH! WAH! The "hitman" was in reality an undercover US security agent of the US Federal agency.
Tailpiece: 'Intelligence' has two meanings in Oxford dictionary.
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NEW YORK, Nov 29: The US Federal prosecutors on Wednesday filed "murder-for-hire"
and murder-for-hire conspiracy charges against Indian national Nikhil Gupta
in the alleged plot to kill Pannun (Gurpatwant Singh Pannun), Sikh separatist leader and Sikhs for Justice founder, in New York City. However, Pannun is not named in
the indictment unsealed on Wednesday but was identified by American officials.
According to the charge sheet filed in New York's Manhattan southern district
court, Nikhil Gupta (52) agreed to pay $100,000 to a "hitman" to murder Pannun
but the "hitman" was in reality an undercover US security agent of the Federal
agency.
The indictment included a photo of the advance payment made to the "hitman"
in a car by an associate of Nikhil Gupta in the Manhattan borough of New York
City on June 9.
Gupta was detained in June in the Czech Republic and is awaiting extradition.
According to the charge sheet, Gupta was acting at the behest of an Indian
Government agency official, who described himself as “senior field officer”
with intelligence responsibilities and “directed the assassination plot from
India.” The official has been identified in the charge but not named. He recruited
Gupta for the job. The indictment signed by Damian Williams, the United States
Attorney, describes him as "an identified Indian Government employee ("CC-1")"
who "directed a plot to assassinate..."
As soon as it was known that an Indian official was leading the plot, the White
House had engaged “in direct conversations with the Indian Government at the
highest levels to express our concern,” Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the
National Security Council, said Wednesday. President Biden himself raised the
issue directly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi when they met at the Group
of 20 summit in September.
Prosecutors said the Indian official gave Gupta Pannun’s home address, phone
numbers and other.
They said it resembled the June assassination in Canada (of Nijjar).
US prosecutors said Nijjar and Pannun were associates.
The "hitman" was told to carry out the murder “as soon as possible” but not
during the State visit of the India Prime Minister.
Pannun said in a statement that “The attempt on my life on American Soil is
the blatant case of India’s transnational terrorism which has become a challenge
to America’s sovereignty and threat to freedom of speech and democracy. If death
is the cost for running the Khalistan Referendum, I am willing to pay that price.”
The Indian Government set up a committeee to look into the US allegation on
November 18. The White House had said the US is "treating a reported plot to
kill a Sikh separatist on American soil with utmost seriousness" and had raised
the issue with the Indian Government "at the senior-most levels". A Financial
Times report on November 23 said US had foiled the Pannun murder plot and had
warned India.
The Indian Foreign Ministry statement said."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.''
"In this context, it is informed that on November 18, the Government of India
constituted a Committee to inquire into all the relevant aspects of the matter,"
the Ministry said.
Canada had in September levelled the allegation against India on the same lines
about Nijjar killing. Nijjar was the chief of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force
and one of India's most-wanted terrorists. He was killed in June in Canada.
Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun holds dual citizenship of the United
States and Canada.
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SELECTIONS FROM OUR ARCHIVES |
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Top Govt officer thrashed, kicked inside Bhubaneswar office: Incident sparks a debate
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The incident has triggered a debate on social media whether the officer refused to take orders from a party leader or he was accused of any corruption, some netizens justifying the handling in either case, that Ratnakar was blocking public welfare work! It is true the Govt machinery has been the enemy Number One of the people of this country, existing for itself and for these politicians, for well over seven decades. India will never make an inch of progress - real progress, not make-believe-progress - unless and until this machinery is eliminated.
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UK's House of Commons votes to legalise assisted dying: What it means | |
ANALYSIS: There have been cases of Britons going to Switzerland to get rid of a miserable life. Now once the House of Lords also passes the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, terminally ill Britons can call it quits with the help of a medical practitioner here itself. But the measure when comes into practice, will have very serious social consequences, it is feared. There won't be comparisons, even as tropes in Latin American folklores. The worst case scenario is of those who are not terminally ill also trying to misuse the provision to leave this world early when life with dignity is not available. But that is, in fact, a political question and not a moral imbroglio!
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What caused Air India Boeing 787 crash? Some questions, some answers | |
The CCTV footage and the video circulating on social media do not indicate any serious abnormalities in takeoff or descent, it has been confirmed. The disaster is becoming curiouser and curiouser. The flight path was not curvy. And the aircraft maintained a steady, gliding descent with its nose straight and the wings perfectly level. The pilot's distress call does not specify what prevented lift and climb-out. Here are some expert opinions. The sole purpose is to raise travellers' awareness about air travel.
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Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line brings Kashmir Valley on India's rail map |
- The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line provides Kashmir with all-weather connectivity and integrates the Valley with the rest of India.
- The saying 'Kashmir to Kanyakumari' is now a dream come true.
- The Chenab bridge on the line, an engineering marvel, is the world's highest
railway bridge, taller than the Eiffel Tower. (Video: File)
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Work done, Elon Musk steps down from DOGE, leaves White House | |
Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.
PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.
Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people.
(Today's headlines )
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Ailing Asiatic lion Pataudi too dies of bird flu at Kanpur zoo
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Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.
Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.
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48 tourist destinations closed in Kashmir following Pahalgam terror attack
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As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.
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Trump slaps ‘kind’, ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on trading partners; a 'lenient' 26% on India!
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ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!
What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America!
(Today's headlines )
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Trump signs order to shut Education Dept - And the contrast with India
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PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).
In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.
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Sunita, Wilmore's Dragon splashes down in Gulf: What delayed their return? |
THE AMERICAN CONUNDRUM: Political venom has migrated to top echelons in the US. It was reported last year NASA has become politicised, vitiated. But NASA refuted the charge. How Boeing developed a glitch but its unmanned return was smooth. When Suni-Wilmore were stranded last June, why the return was set for February? Because that comes only after January 20! SpaceX called the shots, for itself and for Trump. Then the mission was manipulated for March for a better bargain! In between, what made Elon Musk 'predict' during campaign if Kamala Harris wins he would be in jail. In politics, it is said, "the only rule is there are no rules." Difficult times for Americans too.
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All 80k health workers in US offered $25,000 voluntary buyout: Administering wrong prescriptions!
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The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.
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ARCHIVES
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Visit Indian Travel Sites
Goa,
Kerala,
Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh,
Delhi,
Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh,
Himachal Pradesh,
Assam,
Sikkim,
Karnataka,
Madhya Pradesh,
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Gujarat
Puducherry
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Neighbours Calling
Bhutan
Nepal
Malaysia
Dubai
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Visit Indian Travel Sites
Goa,
Kerala,
Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh,
Delhi,
Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh,
Himachal Pradesh,
Assam,
Sikkim,
Karnataka,
Madhya Pradesh,
Jammu & Kashmir
Gujarat
Puducherry
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