(New York) An American Sikh independence activist is suing India over its alleged role in what court documents describe as two coordinated attacks, including one that left a temple leader dead in British Columbia.
Published at 6:18 p.m.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun of the group Sikhs for Justice says the civil suit filed in a New York state court seeks to hold the New Delhi government accountable for its alleged involvement in the shooting death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, last year and a plot to personally target him later.
The allegations have not been proven in court; the Indian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead outside the Sikh temple he led on June 18, 2023. Four Indian nationals were charged last May with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the case.
US authorities then announced in November that an Indian national, Nikhil Gupta, had been charged after an alleged plot to murder Mr Pannun in New York was foiled.
In Mr. Pannun’s recent lawsuit, the New York lawyer claims that men in British Columbia shot Mr. Nijjar 34 times “at close range before fleeing,” and that a video of his “bloody body” was then sent to Mr. Gupta “as a message to go ahead” with the planned New York killing.
“They succeeded in killing Mr. Nijjar,” Matthew Borden, Mr. Pannun’s lawyer, said in a video call. “And the same thing would have happened to Mr. Pannun if the person Mr. Gupta tried to hire had not been an undercover American agent.”
Court documents also say Mr Gupta instructed undercover officers to “kill everyone” if Mr Pannun was not alone at the time of the planned killing.
Nikhil Gupta has pleaded not guilty.
Sikh separatism
Mr. Pannun and Mr. Nijjar are prominent figures in the overseas Sikh independence movement, which seeks a separate state within India called “Khalistan.” The movement has held a number of non-binding referendums in overseas Sikh communities, including those in the Vancouver area.
Mr. Nijjar’s killing in Surrey sparked a diplomatic spat between Canada and India, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau telling Parliament in 2023 that “credible intelligence” linked the killing to the Indian government.
India, which considers many people involved in the Sikh separatist movement as terrorists and extremists, has denied any involvement in the Nijjar and Pannun cases. New Delhi says it has launched a high-level investigation into the Pannun case after being informed of the alleged plot by US authorities.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to travel to the United States later this week for a summit of leaders of the “Quad” – the United States, India, Japan and Australia.
Mr. Pannun says the aim of filing a civil suit against India, in addition to the ongoing criminal case against Mr. Gupta, is to send a message to New Delhi from Sikh activist groups overseas.
“This is about the rule of law, in which no individual and no government – including the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi – is above the law,” he said. “Holding the Modi government accountable in the US court will establish the principle of the rule of law.”
With information from the Associated Press
