Vikash Yadav, a former officer of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), has been charged in the United States for allegedly planning a failed assassination of Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York City. According to the charges, Yadav has been working with associates in India and other countries since May 2023 to carry out the assassination. The U.S. Justice Department has charged him with murder-for-hire and money laundering.

Yadav reportedly enlisted Indian national Nikhil Gupta for the assassination plot. Gupta was arrested in Prague in June 2023 and subsequently extradited to the U.S., where he entered a not-guilty plea. The indictment states that Yadav and Gupta attempted to hire an assassin for $100,000, who turned out to be an undercover FBI informant. Just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the U.S., they allegedly paid the informant $15,000 for the hit and instructed him to postpone the assassination to avoid any diplomatic repercussions.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs confirmed that Yadav is no longer associated with the Indian government. In light of the investigation, officials from the U.S. State Department have expressed satisfaction with India's cooperation. Earlier in September, a U.S. court issued a summons to the Indian government concerning a civil suit filed by Pannun, which India has described as "completely unwarranted."