India
FBI issues ‘wanted’ posters about Vikash Yadav in Punjabi, Hindi | India News – Times of India
The FBI website already had a poster of Yadav, who was allegedly the mastermind behind the failed plot to kill the Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannununder the heading ‘wanted’ in English. The report left many intrigued as Yadav is not absconding, with Indian authorities informing their US counterparts that he was in jail for alleged theft and is currently out on bail.
The FBI’s unusual interest in nabbing Yadav appears to have stemmed from rumors by Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) chief Gurpatwant Singh Pannun that Vikash Yadav could be in the territory of Haryana and Punjab, sources said.
Yadav’s arrest and extradition may not be an easy task
Yadav has been charged by a New York court in connection with the Pannun murder-for-hire plot, in which the FBI has also arrested an alleged drug dealer of Indian origin named Nikhil Gupta.
Gupta was arrested by Czech authorities at Prague airport in June last year at the request of the US government. He was accused of working with an undercover agent and hiring a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) informant to kill Pannun. Gupta was then handed over to US authorities around the first week of November 2023, shortly before charges were filed in a New York court.
While the FBI’s efforts indicate that Yadav is a top priority for U.S. law enforcement, his capture and subsequent extradition will not be an easy task. The Indian government is likely to repeat its demand over two pending extraditions. While one is former DEA informant David Coleman Headley, aka Dawood Gilani, an LeT operative who carried out reconnaissance for the gang that carried out the 26/11 Mumbai rampage, the other is Tahawwur Rana, who was also in the same case was sought.
