New Delhi, 15 January (H.S.): The Ministry of External Affairs has described the chargesheet filed in a US court against an Indian citizen in the alleged conspiracy to kill Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun as a serious matter and as such that this is not India's policy.

An Indian national Nikhil Gupta has been charged in a New York court in the US for conspiring to kill Khalistani terrorist Pannun through a hired killer. An Indian government official has also been accused of being involved in the murder.

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a press conference on Thursday that, The case filed in a US court against a person (Nikhil Gupta) has been allegedly linked to an Indian official. This is a matter of concern. We have said and want to reiterate that this is also contrary to the government's policy.

The spokesperson further said, international organised crime, drug and arms smuggling and nexus between extremists are also a matter of grave concern for law enforcement agencies. This is why a high level committee has been formed to investigate the matter. Further steps will be taken based on its results.

He said that more information related to such security matters cannot be shared.

Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta was arrested in Czech Republic on June 30 on information from the US. Based on the charges levelled against Gupta, he can be sentenced to 20 years.

The notable aspect of the case is that the hired killer who was contacted in the US was an informer of the US federal police. Based on his information, the US police started investigating the alleged conspiracy and laid the ground plan.

During this investigation, another Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was killed in Canada.

After this, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India of killing Nijjar.

On the issue of Canada, India said, as far as Canada is concerned, they have consistently given space to anti-India extremists and violence. This is at the core of the issue. Our diplomatic representatives have suffered for this. Therefore, we expect the Canadian government to fulfill its obligations under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. We have also seen interference in our internal affairs, this is clearly unacceptable.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar