We stay engaged with Indian govt: US Deputy State Secretary on alleged Pannun killing plot
Richard Verma in Delhi on Tuesday said that America will stay engaged with the Indian government on the issue of the alleged bid to assassinate Khalistterrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the United States.
«I know we raised our concerns with the Government of India. There is a committee of inquiry looking into the matter, and we will stay engaged with the government and look forward to their findings. And they've taken it very seriously, and we're grateful for that,» Verma said.
He made the remarks at the event titled 'The Long View from DC: The India-US Partnership' hosted by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in Delhi. His statement comes after the US Justice Department unsealed an indictment against an Indian national for his alleged involvement in the foiled plot to assassinate Pannun.
Earlier in November, the US Justice Department claimed that an Indian government employee (named CC-1), who was not identified in the indictment filed in a federal court in Manhattan, recruited an Indian national named Nikhil Gupta to hire a hitman to carry out the assassination, which was foiled by US authorities, according to prosecutors. Gupta is currently in custody in the Czech Republic and has been charged with murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
In his remarks at the event, Richard Verma also emphasised on the ties between India and the US. He recalled that Mahatma Gandhi used to write to then-US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt about his writings.
He further said that
