The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray is expected to visit India next week, the US Ambassador to India confirmed on Wednesday.
The visit comes amid the controversy over a bid to assassinate Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil, for which the US administration levelled allegations against an Indian national and an Indian agency official
Speaking about India-US relations during a panel discussion at the Carnegie ‘Global Technology Summit’ held in New Delhi, Ambassador Eric Garcetti said, “This was the Number 1 country she [US Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen] went to outside the United States. Four times this year. The Secretary of State [Antony Blinken] just came here for the third time. Secretary of Defence [Lloyd Austin] for the second time. The FBI director is here next week.”
The FBI Director’s visit, aimed at strengthening cooperation between the United States and India on a range of law enforcement issues, comes days after US Principal Deputy National Security Adviser (NSA), Jonathan Finer, was in Delhi to meet with Vikram Misri, India’s Deputy National Security Adviser.
During the meeting, the issue of the assassination plot had come up. According to a statement issued by the White House, “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.”
Last month, the United States charged an Indian national named Nikhil Gupta with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and murder-for-hire charges for allegedly plotting to assassinate Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York City.
As per the Court documents filed by the US Justice Department, an unnamed Indian government official colluded with Gupta in the plot to kill Pannun.
Subsequently, New Delhi has formed a high-level special Enquiry Committee to thoroughly investigate the issue.
Earlier today, commenting on the Pannun case, the State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the matter had been noted by Washington DC at the “most senior levels of this government” and taken up with External Affairs Minister Jaishankar.
“I also made clear that we have noted 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,” said Miller.
He also added that the US government urges the Indian administration to cooperate with Canada in the case of the killing of Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
