‘Unwarranted’: India on US court summons over alleged plot to kill Sikh separatist

The summons issued by a court in the United States to the Indian government on Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun’s case, alleging a plot to murder him, are “completely unwarranted and unsubstantiated”, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri made the comment at a press briefing in response to a question about the summons issued by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Misri said that the summons do not change India’s views on the matter and reiterated Delhi’s position that Pannun belongs to an unlawful organisation. “As we said earlier, these are completely unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations now that this particular case has been lodged, it doesn’t change our views about the underlying situation,” the foreign secretary said.

Referring to Pannun, Misri added: “I would only invite your attention to the person behind this particular case whose antecedents are well known and underline the fact that the organisation this person represents is an unlawful organisation and has been declared as such [under the Indian law].”

The summons by the court in New York name the Indian government, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, businessman Nikhil Gupta and Samant Goel, the former chief of India’s foreign intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing, among...

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