New Delhi: The door was latched and locked on the outside. There was no nameplate. Ringing a bell got no response. A child’s bicycle stood nearby, clearly a neighbour’s.
Vikash Yadav’s last known official address, a first-floor flat in the government housing complex at Andrews Ganj Extension in the national capital, has an air of abandonment.
On Friday, October 18, the US department of justice named and charged Vikash Yadav as the Indian government official who had allegedly orchestrated a plot to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a lawyer for Sikhs for Justice, a US-based group banned by India for its pro-Khalistani stance.
In the unsealed indictment, he was described as a CRPF official, currently working in the Cabinet Secretariat in the Prime Minister’s Office. The Ministry of External Affairs has stated that he is no longer an Indian government official.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation had also issued a “wanted notice” which listed his birthplace as Pranpura in Haryana, with his birthdate as December 11, 1984.
No guards at Yadav’s listed address
When The Wire visited the unassuming block of flats that Vikash Yadav had listed as his address, there was no indication of its significance – no guards present and no signs of barriers.
The last time anyone had seen him at the flat was in December 2023, The Wire was told. He had been living there for three years prior but did not “interact with anyone here (in the neighbourhood)”. Neighbours were unaware of where he worked, other than the fact that he was obviously a government official.
He had largely lived alone before that, as his wife, a flight attendant, had returned home during a pregnancy, they said. He also had a couple of cats, which were often fed by neighbours – the only time that they exchanged pleasantries with Yadav.
After he seemingly left in December 2023, neighbours recalled that there were “some government people” who came to Yadav’s house and searched it. Others visited later in January to check the house. Since then, the small flat in South Delhi has remained empty, still not allotted to any other government official.
The US had unsealed its first indictment in the foiled plot to kill Pannun on November 29, 2023. The indictment came as a stunning announcement as it was released just 10 weeks after India had angrily dismissed Canada’s claim that there were “credible allegations” of Indian government officials involved in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Surrey Gurudwara.
The November 2023 indictment had clearly indicated that the conspiracy involving Nikhil Gupta and the unnamed Indian government official stretched to Canada.
CAT and a confirmation of Yadav’s appointment after Trudeau’s claims
The same date on which the US Department of Justice publicly released the indictment in 2023, the Central Administrative Tribunal’s principal bench in Delhi disposed of ‘Vikash Yadav Vs Cabinet Secretariat and others’.
Yadav’s lawyer had filed a case in the CAT on December 5, 2022, regarding the confirmation of his probation with the Directorate General of Security in the Cabinet Secretariat. CAT had issued a notice on January 30, 2023.
In the months leading up to early September last year, hearings were scheduled five times but were adjourned at least four times due to the government counsel’s failure to file a reply. Court records show that the reply was filed on September 26, 2023. At the next hearing on October 6, the government counsel said that the reply had been filed, with the bench listing the case for November 29 “for further orders”.
Disposing off the case, the bench observed that Yadav’s lawyer placed on record an office order dated October 9, 2023 which “conveys approval of the Government to successful completion of probation and confirmation in the post of SFO (GD) in Executive Cadre of DG (S) in respect of the applicant with effect from 13.11.2015”.
It also said: “Learned counsel for the applicant submits that in the light of the Office Order dated 09.10.2023, the grievances of the applicant stand redressed and, therefore, the present OA has become infructuous.”
The office order confirming Yadav’s successful completion of probation was issued exactly three weeks after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made his explosive claims.
Aswin Nischal, the lawyer who represented Yadav at the CAT hearing, told The Wire that he had heard from Yadav later that he was leaving his job at the Cabinet Secretariat and taking up another assignment. But he said he was unaware of Yadav’s current whereabouts or assignment.
Less than three weeks after the US indictment named Nikhil Gupta and referred to an unnamed government official from the CRPF and RAW, and with the CAT order confirming his appointment in the Cabinet Secretariat, Yadav was arrested by Delhi Police on December 18. The arrest was first reported by the Indian Express on October 19.
As per the Delhi Police FIR cited by Express, Yadav abducted a resident of Rohini and attempted to extort him on December 11. After reportedly spending four months in jail, he was released in April on bail. Thereafter, his whereabouts are unknown.
This article was first published on The Wire on October 19, 2024.
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