Vikash Yadav Had Been Arrested In Delhi, Family Shocked By US Charges

Photo: Reuters via FBI Handout

NEW DELHI, (REUTERS) – The former Indian government official charged in the US for directing a foiled murder plot had been arrested in New Delhi in December in an attempted murder case, according to court records and a police officer.

The U.S. Justice Department unsealed the indictment of Vikash Yadav, 39, on October 19, alleging he led a plot to murder a Sikh separatist in New York.

From May 2023, the U.S. indictment alleges, Yadav, described as an Indian government employee at the time, worked with others in India and abroad to direct a plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen.

Delhi Police had arrested Yadav on December 18 in the Indian capital, the police officer said. Yadav and an associate were charged with attempted murder and other crimes, according to a filing in a Delhi district court.

Yadav’s lawyer, R.K. Handoo, called the Indian charges “fallacious”, adding there was “an international plot to bring shame on the government of India and my client”.

He and the police did not respond to questions about Yadav’s whereabouts. The Washington Post, citing American officials, reported that Yadav was still in India and that the U.S. was expected to seek his extradition.

Yadav’s arrest was based on a complaint by an Indian businessman, who alleged Yadav, and an associate kidnapped him in December, assaulted and robbed him, according to details in a Delhi district court order dated February 23.

“The accused persons tortured and manhandled the complainant and demanded money in the name of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi,” said the February 23 court order, summarizing the complaint.

Bishnoi, in jail in Gujarat, is an organized crime gang leader, according to India’s National Investigation Agency.

In Yadav’s Delhi case, the court order citing the complaint said: “The accused persons also brought bank cheque book from the cafe of the complainant and got his signature on blank cheques and later on dropped him near his car, threatening to remain silent.”

Meanwhile, his family expressed shock that Yadav was wanted by the FBI. Yadav, apparenlty described the claims as false media reports when he spoke to his cousin, Avinash Yadav, the relative in their ancestral village about 60 miles from New Delhi, said.

“The family has no information” about him working for the spy agency, Yadav’s cousin said in the village of Pranpura in Haryana state. “He never mentioned anything about it,” despite the two speaking to each other regularly.

“For us he is still working for the CRPF,” the federal Central Reserve Police Force, which he joined in 2009, said Avinash Yadav, 28. “He told us he is a deputy commandant” and was trained as a paratrooper.

The cousin said he did not know where Yadav was but that he lives with his wife and daughter who was born last year.

Indian officials have not commented on Yadav’s whereabouts.

His mother, Sudesh Yadav, 65, said she was still in shock. “What can I say? I do not know whether the U.S. government is telling the truth or not. He has been working for the country,” she said.

Yadav’s cousin pointed to the family’s modest, single-store house, saying, “Where will so much money come from? Can you see any Audis and Mercedes lined up outside this house?”

Most of the village’s nearly 500 families have traditionally sent young men to join the security forces, locals said.

Yadav’s father, who died in 2007, was an officer with India’s border force and his brother works with the police in Haryana, said Avinash Yadav.

Another cousin, Amit Yadav, 41, said Vikash Yadav had been a quiet boy interested in books and athletics and was a national-level marksman.

“Only the government of India and Vikash know what has happened,” he said, adding that Indian officials should inform them.

If the government “abandons” a paramilitary officer, Amit Yadav said, “then who will work for them?”

Avinash Yadav said: “We want the Indian government to support us, they should inform us what has happened. Otherwise, where will we go?”