Man Named In Terrorist Pannun Case No Longer Government Employee: India

India has confirmed the United States' assertion that a person identified as 'CC1' in a US Department of Justice indictment on an alleged assassination plot of Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun is no longer employed by the Indian government. 

The US State Department had said it had been informed about this by Indian officials who are members of an inquiry committee.

"We've received an update from them on the investigation that they have been conducting. It was a productive meeting. They did inform us that the individual who was named in the Justice Department indictment is no longer an employee of the Indian government... We are satisfied with the cooperation," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

At a press conference on Thursday, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal confirmed that the person named in the indictment is no longer an employee of the government of India. 

To a follow-up question on who the Indian official is and who are the people who have gone to the United States, Mr Jaiswal said, "I have confirmed that this gentleman is not part of the Government of India setup, he's not an employee, beyond that I don't have anything to share with you. Regarding the people who have gone to the United States, these are members of the high-level inquiry committee that had been set up in November 2023 to look into the inputs that were shared by the US."

"We have taken these inputs very seriously and we remain engaged with the US side on this matter. Two members of the high-level committee have travelled there and held meetings with the US side," he added.

In November last year, UK newspaper Financial Times had reported that the US had foiled a plot to kill Pannun, who heads the radical outfit, Sikhs for Justice, and holds dual citizenship of the US and Canada. Officials in the Joe Biden administration had later confirmed this.

Both the US and India have said that the allegations and the indictment will not affect the upward trajectory of the ties between the two countries.