The Justice Department Thursday announced the filing of murder-for-hire and money laundering charges against Indian government employee Vikash Yadav, 39, also known as Vikas, and Amanat, in connection with his role in directing a foiled plot to assassinate a U.S. citizen in New York City.
Yadav is charged in a second superseding indictment unsealed today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Yadav’s alleged co-conspirator, Nikhil Gupta, 53, was previously charged and extradited to the United States on the charges contained in the first superseding indictment.
Yadav remains at large.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said, “We foiled an attempt by Vikash Yadav, an Indian government employee, and his co-conspirator, Nikhil Gupta, to assassinate an American citizen on U.S. soil.”
“The defendant, an Indian government employee, allegedly conspired with a criminal associate and attempted to assassinate a U.S. citizen on American soil for exercising their First Amendment rights,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.
“Last year, this office charged Nikhil Gupta for conspiring to assassinate a U.S. citizen of Indian origin on U.S. soil,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.
Williams added, “But, as alleged, Gupta did not work alone. Today, we announce charges against an Indian government employee, Vikash Yadav, who orchestrated the plot from India and directed Gupta to hire a hitman to murder the victim.”
As alleged in the second superseding indictment and other public court documents, in 2023, Yadav, working together with others, including Gupta, in India and elsewhere, directed a plot to assassinate on U.S. soil an attorney and political activist who is a U.S. citizen of Indian origin residing in New York City (the victim).
The victim is a vocal critic of the Indian government and leads a U.S.-based organisation that advocates for the secession of Punjab, a state in northern India that is home to a large population of Sikhs, an ethnoreligious minority group in India.
The victim has publicly called for some or all of Punjab to secede from India and establish a Sikh sovereign state called Khalistan, and the Indian government has banned the victim and his separatist organization from India.
During times relevant to the second superseding indictment, Yadav was employed by India’s Cabinet Secretariat, which houses India’s foreign intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing. Yadav has described his position as a “senior field officer” with responsibilities in “security management” and “intelligence.”
Yadav also has referenced previously serving in India’s Central Reserve Police Force and receiving “officer[] training” in “battle craft” and “weapons.” Yadav is a citizen and resident of India, and he directed the plot to assassinate the victim from India.
In or about May 2023, Yadav recruited Gupta to orchestrate the assassination of the victim in the United States. Gupta is an Indian national who resided in India and has described his involvement in international narcotics and weapons trafficking in his communications with Yadav and others.
At Yadav’s direction, Gupta contacted an individual whom Gupta believed to be a criminal associate but who was a confidential source (the CS) working with the DEA for assistance in contracting a hitman to murder the victim in New York City. The CS introduced Gupta to a purported hitman, who was, in fact, a DEA undercover officer (the UC).
Yadav subsequently agreed, in dealings brokered by Gupta, to pay the UC $100,000 to murder the victim. On or about June 9, 2023, Yadav and Gupta arranged for an associate to deliver $15,000 in cash to the UC as an advance payment for the murder. Yadav’s associate then delivered the $15,000 to the UC in Manhattan.
In or about June 2023, in furtherance of the assassination plot, Yadav provided Gupta with personal information about the victim, including the victim’s home address in New York City, phone numbers associated with the victim, and details about the victim’s day-to-day conduct, which Gupta then passed to the UC.
Yadav directed Gupta to provide regular updates on the progress of the assassination plot, which Gupta accomplished by forwarding to Yadav, among other things, surveillance photographs of the victim.
Gupta directed the UC to carry out the murder as soon as possible, but Gupta also specifically instructed the UC not to commit the murder around the time of the Indian Prime Minister’s official state visit to the United States, which was scheduled to begin on or about June 20, 2023.
On or about June 18, 2023, approximately two days before the Indian Prime Minister’s state visit to the United States, masked gunmen murdered Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia, Canada.
Nijjar was an associate of the victim and, like the victim, was a leader of the Sikh separatist movement and an outspoken critic of the Indian government.
On or about June 19, 2023, the day after the Nijjar murder, Gupta told the UC that Nijjar “was also the target” and “we have so many targets.”
Gupta added that, in light of Nijjar’s murder, there was “now no need to wait” on killing the victim.
On or about June 20, 2023, Yadav sent Gupta a news article about the victim and messaged Gupta, “[i]t’s [a] priority now.”
Yadav and Gupta of India have been charged with murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; and conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
