‘Malicious’: India flays US court summons to NSA over lawsuit by terrorist Pannun

NEW DELHI: The ministry of external affairs on Tuesday rejected “fabricated and malicious attacks on New Delhi’s officials after the US state department reportedly served the government with federal court summons in a civil case filed by designated terrorist Gurupatwant Singh Pannun.During the weekly press briefing, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal termed the lawsuit as “frivolous”, saying that requests for the service of judicial documents can only be routed through India’s designated central authority.“We reject the fabricated and malicious attacks on our high officials, as also the frivolous lawsuits,” Jaiswal said.“Requests for the service of judicial documents in India can only be routed through India’s designated central authority, that is, the ministry of law and justice,” he added.Last month, the US state department served federal court summons to New Delhi after Sikh separatist Pannun named number of Indian officials, including national security adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) Samant Goel.

The order marks a fresh procedural development in the lawsuit, which concerns an alleged plot to assassinate Pannun in New York in 2023.The civil lawsuit is linked to the US department of justice’s investigation into Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national described as a drug and arms smuggler.Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic in 2023 before being extradited to the US.US prosecutors accused Gupta of conspiring with others to arrange the assassination of Pannun by hiring a hitman. According to the indictment, Gupta worked with Vikash Yadav, who was allegedly associated with the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).In response to the allegations, the New Delhi set up a committee to investigate the concerns raised by Washington. Yadav, meanwhile, is facing a case in an Indian court.India has rejected Pannun’s civil lawsuit, calling it “unwarranted and unsubstantiated”.