Ex-RAW officer charged with murder-for-hire in US claims threat to life in Delhi court

Former Research and Analysis Wing officer Vikash Yadav, charged by the United States Department of Justice with murder-for-hire and money laundering in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, has sought exemption from attending hearings in a separate extortion case in a Delhi court citing a threat to his life, reported The Indian Express on Sunday.

Yadav was arrested by Delhi Police in an extortion case on December 18, 2023, less than three weeks after he was named in an alleged plot to kill Sikhs for Justice chief Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. The two cases do not seem to be related.

The court granted Yadav’s request for exemption from attending his hearings in the extortion case and ordered him to appear before it on February 3. He had been granted bail in April after spending four months in Tihar jail.

On October 18, Yadav was charged with murder-for-hire and money laundering by the United States Department of Justice in connection with the alleged plot to assassinate Pannun. The plot was foiled before the Khalistan separatist leader could be killed.

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation had also placed Yadav on its “wanted” list and sought more information about him.

Yadav was described in the US indictment as a senior field officer in the Research and Analysis Wing, India’s foreign intelligence service. However, India’s foreign ministry said on October 17 that he was “not part of the Government of India setup”.

An indictment that became public in November last year had referred to Yadav as unidentified co-conspirator “CC-1” and left out any mention of the Research and Analysis Wing. On December 18, less than three weeks after the US indictment became public, he was arrested by the Delhi Police’s Special Cell in the extortion case.

The case was filed after a resident of Delhi’s Rohini area accused him of extortion and abduction. According to the first information report, on December 11, Yadav called the complainant and said he wanted to discuss something with him.

The complainant said he was forcibly taken to a flat near Defence Colony, where Yadav told about an alleged contract to eliminate him. Yadav was said to have told the complainant that gangster Lawrence Bishnoi had ordered the killing at the behest of a Dubai-based individual,

The complainant said he was assaulted by Yadav’s accomplice and forced to hand over his gold chain and some rings.

Yadav and his accomplice were booked for attempted murder, criminal conspiracy, abduction and criminal intimidation under the Indian Penal Code in addition to being charged with some sections of the Arms Act.

In a two-page application filed by his lawyer RK Handoo, Yadav has claimed that the case against him, registered by the Delhi Police, is false, The Indian Express reported.

Yadav also claimed that there was a threat to his life as his photographs, home address and personal details were publicly available. He furnished news reports featuring his photograph to support his claim and argued that would not be able to attend the case hearings via video conferencing either, due to the risk of his location being tracked.

“There is a security threat to his life and we have moved an application for exemption from the court hearing,” Handoo was quoted by The Indian Express as saying. “The court has approved his request and gave him exemption.”

In April, the additional sessions judge at Delhi’s Patiala House Courts noted that Yadav had complied with the conditions of his interim bail and that there was no reason to keep him in custody indefinitely, seeing as the chargesheet against him had been filed and that his co-accused had been granted bail.

The court noted that the state opposed Yadav’s bail application, arguing that the charges against him were “grave and serious” and there was a “likelihood of tampering with evidence”.