Activist sues India over alleged plot that killed Sikh leader

A Sikh independence activist is suing India for its alleged role in what's described in court documents as two co-ordinated attacks, including one that resulted in the death of a temple leader in British Columbia.

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, with the group Sikhs for Justice, says the civil lawsuit in the U.S. districtcourtfor southern New York is aimed at holding the Indian government accountable forallegedinvolvement in the shooting death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey,B.C., last year and aploton Pannun soon afterwards.

The allegations have not been proven incourt, and the Indian Embassy in Washington, D.C., has not responded to a request for comment.

Nijjar was gunned down outside of aSikhgurdwara where he was president on June 18, 2023, and four Indian nationals have been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy in the killing.

U.S. authorities then announced last November that Indian national Nikhil Gupta was charged after anallegedmurder-for-hireplotagainst Pannun in New York was foiled.

In the latest lawsuit filed by Pannun, the New York-based lawyer says gunmen inB.C. shot Nijjar 34 times "at point blank range before fleeing," and a video of Nijjar's "bloody body" was sent to Gupta "as a message to move forward" with the murderplotagainst Pannun.

"They were successful in killing Mr. Nijjar," says Matthew Borden, Pannun's lawyer, in a video call. "And the same thing would have happened to Mr. Pannun but for the fact that the person that Mr. Gupta tried to hire was an undercover U.S. agent."

Thecourtdocuments also says Gupta instructed the undercover agents to "put everyone down" if Pannun was not alone at the time of the planned attack.

Gupta has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Pannun and Nijjar are prominent figures in the overseasSikhindependence movement seeking a separate state withinIndiacalled Khalistan.

The movement has organized a number of non-binding referendums in overseas Sikh communities, including those in Metro Vancouver, calling for the creation of an independent Sikh homeland in India.

The Nijjar killing set off a diplomatic row between Canada andIndiaafter Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Parliament in 2023 that credible intelligence linked the murder toIndia's government.

India, which considers many involved in the Khalistani movement terrorists, extremists and militant separatists, has denied involvement in the Nijjar and Pannun cases.

Indiasays it has set up a high-level inquiry into the Pannun case after being notified by U.S. authorities.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit the United Statesoverthe weekend for a Leaders' Summit between the U.S.,India, Japan and Australia.

Pannun says the goal of a civil lawsuit againstIndiaon top of the current criminal case against Gupta is meant to send a message from overseasSikhactivistgroups.

"This is about rule of law, in which no individual and no government including Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is above the law," Pannun says. "Holding Modi's government accountable before the U.S.courtwill establish the principle of rule of law."