PM Modi breaks silence on allegation of India's assassination plot to kill Gurpatwant Pannun

Days after news emerged about India's possible attempt to assassinate Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that if an Indian citizen has done anything good or bad, the government is “ready to look into it”. Modi assured that  “few incidents” would not affect US-India ties.“If someone gives us any information, we would definitely look into it,” PM Modi said in an interview with the UK based newspaper Financial Times. “If a citizen of ours has done anything good or bad, we are ready to look into it. Our commitment is to the rule of law,” the Prime Minister said.Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who was declared a ‘designated individual terrorist’ by the Government of India on July 1, 2020, has been actively exhorting Punjab-based gangsters and youth over social media to fight for the cause of the independent state of Khalistan, challenging the sovereignty, integrity and security of the country, NIA investigations have shown.

Pannun has been under the NIA lens since 2019 when the anti-terror agency registered its first case against him. Last month, US federal prosecutors charged Indian national Nikhil Gupta with working with an Indian government employee in the foiled plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who is an American and Canadian citizen. Currently, Gupta has been detained in the Czech Republic and facing extradition to US. Describing it as a “matter of concern," India has announced a high-level investigation and asserted that follow-up action will be taken based on the findings of the investigation panel. Notably, India's External Affairs Ministry instituted an inquiry committee to look into the inputs received from the US in the case. Earlier this month, Pannun released a video message threatening to "shake the very foundation of Parliament" on December 13 -- the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attack on Parliament. Earlier in September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made allegations regarding India's involvement in Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar's killing. India rejected the allegations and called them "absurd" and politically motivated."