The US has accused a former Indian intelligence chief of plotting to kill a Sikh separatist

The United States has charged a former intelligence officer in India who foiled a plot to kill a Sikh separatist in New York City last year, and the FBI said it would not tolerate retaliation against an American citizen.

Vikash Yadav’s case was ordered to be closed on Thursday. The US Department of Justice indictment said Yadav was an officer of India’s Research and Analysis spy service. It was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Washington suspects that Indian agents are involved in a plot to assassinate Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US-Canadian citizen.

“The FBI will not tolerate acts of violence or other attempts to retaliate against those who live in the US for exercising their constitutionally protected rights,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.

An Indian government committee investigating Indian involvement in the foiled assassination plot met with US officials in Washington on Tuesday, a meeting Washington described as successful.

The United States has been pressing India to look into the US Department of Justice’s claim that an Indian intelligence officer directed plans to kill Pannun.

The US case is not the only instance where India has been accused of targeting Sikh separatists in a foreign country.

Canada on Monday expelled Indian politicians, linking them to the 2023 assassination of Sikh sect leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil. India has also ordered the expulsion of Canadian diplomats and denies Canada’s allegations.

The allegations have tested Washington and Ottawa’s relationship with India, which is often seen by the West as a rival to China.

India has called Sikh separatists “terrorists” and threats to its security. Sikh separatists want an independent state known as Khalistan to be carved out of India. Insurgency in India in the 1980s and 1990s killed tens of thousands.