Pro-Khalistani Pannun admits contact with Trudeau amid India-Canada tensions

The development comes hours after India and the United States, in the first official confirmation, on Thursday said a person identified as “CC1” in the US Department of Justice (DOJ) indictment — linked to an alleged plot to kill US-based Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun — was “no longer an employee of the Indian government”.

The ministry of external affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal also confirmed the visit of the high-level Indian enquiry committee — established to review the evidence shared by the US government regarding the alleged involvement of Indian national Nikhil Gupta and an Indian official in the Gurpatwant Singh Pannun plot. The visit was first announced by the US on Monday.

Nikhil Gupta, who was arrested from Prague last year and deported to the US, is currently being prosecuted in the US. The US Justice Department had said an Indian government employee, only identified as CC1 in the indictment, had recruited Nikhil Gupta to hire a hitman to carry out the assassination that was foiled by US authorities.