 "National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will represent India at the meeting. File Photo")
A US court has ruled that the summons intended for NSA Ajit Doval, who was with PM Narendra Modi during his visit to the US on 12-13 February, was not delivered during his stay.
The court responded to a letter from Gurpatwant Singh Pannun’s lawyer, which revealed that US Secret Service agents guarding the Blair House, where the Indian delegation stayed, The Times of India reported. The Secret Service also threatened to arrest Pannun’s server when he tried to deliver the notice.
The server left the summons at a nearby Starbucks, but the court deemed this insufficient.
After reviewing the letter, a judge from the Southern District of New York stated that the summons was not delivered to anyone involved with Doval’s security or hotel staff, as required by the court’s order.
This confirms India’s position that Doval was not served the summons. India’s Foreign Secretary, Vikram Misri, had previously called these allegations unwarranted and baseless.
Pannu hires process servers, investigators
According to the report from The Times of India, Pannun hired two process servers and one investigator to serve legal documents to Doval during his two-day trip to Washington DC.
The first server, Ambiko Wallace, arrived at Blair House on February 12 at 7:22 pm, but found it barricaded with Secret Service agents guarding a single checkpoint. Wallace showed the legal document to an agent, but the agent refused to accept it and ordered Wallace to leave.
The next day, a more experienced server, Wayne Engram, tried again at 12:15 pm. The Secret Service again refused to accept the document. Engram then tried to leave the envelope on the ground, a method commonly used for service, but was told he would be arrested if he did so. He decided to leave the documents at a nearby Starbucks, about 100 feet from the checkpoint, and told the agents where they were. However, this attempt was deemed insufficient by the court.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsMeanwhile, the investigator hired by Pannun contacted Blair House staff and Secret Service, but was told it was impossible to serve the defendant there and they refused to provide an email for the summons.
The Pannun case, related to a murder plot, had the potential to create a diplomatic issue between India and the US. The Biden administration, already addressing charges from Canada over the murder of another Khalistan leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, is seeking accountability. India, which designated Pannun a terrorist in 2020, hopes this case will not strain relations further. Pannun is the spokesperson for Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a Khalistan group that India wants the US to ban.
Allegations against Indian agents in Pannu case
The summons was issued last September in response to a lawsuit filed by Pannun, who accused Indian agents of plotting to murder him.
In October 2024, US federal prosecutors charged Vikash Yadav, a former Indian intelligence official, with orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot targeting Pannun in New York City.
The plot was foiled when Yadav’s intermediary, Nikhil Gupta, unknowingly contacted an undercover DEA agent to carry out the assassination.