A US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) handout image shows former Indian intelligence officer Vikash Yadav who has been charged by the US for allegedly directing a foiled plot to murder a Sikh separatist and Indian critic in New York City
Credit: Reuters Photo
Vikash Yadav was mentioned in US Department of Justice documents last November as CC-1 or co-conspirator -- accused of planning to kill pro-Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. Less than three weeks after that, Delhi police special cell arrested him in an extortion case, The Indian Express reported.
The publication added, citing records, that Yadav spent four months in Tihar and was released in April this year.
The Delhi police in December last year, arrested Yadav based on an FIR filed by a Rohini resident, where he was accused of kidnapping and extortion. The complainant linked Yadav to jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.
The complainant said, "In November last year, one of my friends introduced me to Yadav as a senior government official and we exchanged numbers. We became good friends, but never spoke about business since he was a government official. However, he had always shown curiosity about my friends, who are based abroad, and also enquired about how I do money transactions with them," as per the publication.
The Rohini resident said he used to run an IT company and had made contact with many Indians in West Asia.
The Rohini man alleged that Yadav had told him he was 'some kind of undercover agent' who was carrying out a sensitive operation for a central agency, but noted that he had neither divulged details, nor shared an office address, IE reported.
"On December 11, he called and informed me there was something serious that he wanted to discuss and it is related to my life. We decided to meet at… Lodhi Road," the publication reported the complaint as saying.
The Rohini resident alleged that Yadav and an associate came in a vehicle and forced him to go to an apartment near Defence Colony with them. There, he was reportedly told that there was a contract to kill him, issued by Bishnoi at the behest of a Dubai-based individual.
The man further alleged that Yadav's associate hit him on the head to get him to give up his gold chain as well as some rings. They also visited a cafe he ran and took cash from there, the man alleged.
The man also said that he was dropped off eventually, and warned of dire consequences if he took the matter to the authorities.
The alleged perpetrators were nabbed the next day and a chargesheet was filed before a Delhi court. The publication reported a senior police officer as saying, "Yadav told the police that his father was working with the Border Security Force, and he died in 2007. Yadav got married in 2015. He met (the complainant) at a social gathering and decided to make money after kidnapping him. His associate, who works as a car dealer, told the police that he was facing financial losses in his business and decided to join his (Yadav’s) plan."
In the chargesheet, Yadav's birthplace is mentioned as Pranpura in Haryana, which is the same location given in the DoJ files. The publication, citing sources, reported that he was in Tihar jail number 1 on December 23.
He was granted interim bail on March 22 on account of his one-year-old daughter being ill, the publication reported. He then walked out of jail on regular bail on April 22, 2024.
The DoJ stated that Yadav had been an employee of the Cabinet Secretariat of the Government of India while plotting to kill Pannun. The indictment also noted that the Cabinet Secretariat housed the RAW, the foreign intelligence service of India.
On Friday, the DoJ charged Yadav with 'murder for hire' and money laundering in the Pannun assassination plot.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs clarified that Yadav was not 'part of the government of India set-up', responding to a question on him being named as an 'Indian government employee'.
The FBI has now put Yadav on the wanted list and sought information on him, which makes the arrest by the Delhi police and the subsequent release on bail significant.
With DHNS inputs