Why is FBI chief visiting India amid US allegations of foiled ‘plot to kill’ Pannun?

The United States has its eyes on India as it seriously follows up on the alleged foiled plot to kill Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil. Now days after US federal prosecutors filed an indictment accusing an Indian national Nikhil Gupta and an unnamed Indian official of being involved in the alleged conspiracy, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is likely to step in. FBI director Christopher A Wray will visit India next week. Wray’s trip was announced by US ambassador to India Eric Garcetti at an event in New Delhi. He was speaking at the Global Technology Summit, organised by think tank Carnegie India and the Ministry of External Affairs, where he said that there was a “growing interest” in the United States to understand India. “There’s a great awakening in America — it’s happening in business and government — where everybody’s like ‘I got to understand India’,” he said and then went on to talk about visits to India by top US officials, according to a report in ThePrint. He said that US Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen visited India four times this year, US secretary of state Antony Blinken came to the country for the third time and US secretary of defence Lloyd Austin for the second time. “The FBI director is here next week,” he added.

FBI director Christopher Wray will visit India next week said US ambassador to India Eric Garcetti during in Delhi.

The visit comes amidst US prosecutors allegation that an Indian govt official plotted to kill Khalistani Terrorist #Pannun in thr US pic.twitter.com/x6SU06ceiO

— Abhishek Jha (@abhishekjha157) December 7, 2023

When will the FBI director visit India? Wray is expected to visit India on 11 and 12 December. This is his first visit to the country since taking charge in 2017. This is the first time in 12 years that an FBI boss is coming to India. The visit comes as talks between the two countries in recent days have been dominated by the alleged plot to kill Pannun . It is aimed at strengthening ties between the United States and India on a range of law enforcement issues.

What is the FBI director’s agenda in India? Wray is expected to meet National Investigation Agency chief Dinkar Gupta. He will also meet other senior officials of India’s intelligence agencies and the Ministry of Home Affairs. Sources told The Indian Express that officials of the NIA and other intelligence agencies usually discuss cases with the FBI’s legal attache. This is the first time cases and evidence will be presented to the FBI director. [caption id=“attachment_13476022” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] FBI director Christopher Wray will be visiting India next week. He will meet the NIA chief and India’s intelligence officials. File photo/Reuters[/caption] Three important issues that will come up for discussion include Khalistan terrorism, Pakistan-sponsored terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir, and gangster nexus, The Indian Express reports. Pannun is expected to come up during discussions. The NIA is expected to present all the cases and evidence against Pannun, who is designated a terrorist in India, and his outfit Sikhs for Justice banned. India is also expected to bring up the issue of Khalistan supporters who allegedly vandalised the Indian consulate in San Francisco in March. The other criminal who will be in focus is US-based gangster Darmanjot Singh Kahlon. He reportedly supplied weapons to kill the famous Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala in March last year, the report says. Accompanying the FBI director will be the FBI legal attache team, US embassy officials and law enforcement personnel. [caption id=“attachment_13476032” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Wray is expected to discuss the issue of Khalistan terrorism with the NIA. File photo/Reuters[/caption] What has India said about the visit? There has been no official remark from India so far. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi declined to comment when ThePrint reached out. How are India and the US handling the Pannun issue? After the indictment last week, India has ordered a high-level probe into the allegations of the foiled plot to kill Pannun. The US “will wait to see the results” of India’s investigation into the alleged assassination attempt, the US state department spokesperson Mathew Miller said on Tuesday, adding that they take the matter “very seriously”. He told reporters that the issue has been discussed at the “most senior levels of this government”. “The Secretary of State has raised this directly with his foreign counterpart that we take this issue very seriously… They told us they would conduct an investigation. They have publicly announced an investigation. And now we’ll wait to see the results of the investigation, but it’s something we take very seriously,” he added. Also read: Could ‘plot to kill’ Gurpatwant Singh Pannun derail India-US ties? US principal deputy national security advisor Jonathan Finer , who was visiting India, met NSA Ajit Doval and External Affairs Miniter S Jaishakar in New Delhi on Monday. He also held talks with India’s deputy NSA Vikram Misri and foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra. “Mr Finer acknowledged India’s establishment of a committee of enquiry to investigate lethal plotting in the United States and the importance of holding accountable anyone found responsible,” the White House said in a readout. After India announced last week that it had formed an enquiry committee to investigate the information shared by US authorities, US secretary of state Antony Blinken hailed the decision, calling it “appropriate”. “We look forward to seeing the results,” he had said. [caption id=“attachment_13476072” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] US principal deputy national security advisor Jonathan Finer met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in New Delhi on Monday. Image courtesy: @DrSJaishankar/X[/caption] What are the allegations against India in the Pannun case? The US has charged an Indian national, Nikhil Gupta , of working with an unnamed Indian government employee in an alleged plot to kill Pannun in New York. The US department of justice (DoJ) filed an indictment in the district court of New York last week. An Indian government employee directed a plot from India to murder a US-based leader of a Sikh separatist movement, the indictment reads. “As alleged, the defendant conspired from India to assassinate, right here in New York City, a US citizen of Indian origin who has publicly advocated for the establishment of a sovereign state for Sikhs, an ethnoreligious minority group in India… We will not tolerate efforts to assassinate US citizens on US soil, and stand ready to investigate, thwart, and prosecute anyone who seeks to harm and silence Americans here or abroad,” it says. With inputs from agencies