Politics
India Rejects United States Court Summons Regarding Alleged Assassination Plot Lawsuit
New Delhi officials condemned the legal action as malicious while the United States government maintained it was required to deliver the documents through standard diplomatic channels.
By Headlinne · Compiled from reporting by Hindu, Times of India and NDTV
The United States State Department formally delivered a civil lawsuit summons to the Indian government in October regarding an alleged 2023 plot to assassinate separatist activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York.
The diplomatic note, signed on September 30, 2026, was transmitted to the Indian Embassy in Washington on October 9, according to documents released by the State Department.
The lawsuit names several high-ranking Indian officials, including National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and former intelligence chief Samant Goel, as participants in the purported conspiracy.
The legal dispute highlights ongoing tensions between Washington and New Delhi over the alleged targeting of a Sikh separatist leader on American soil.
Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson for India's Ministry of External Affairs, dismissed the allegations during a press briefing on Tuesday.
"We reject the fabricated and malicious attacks on our high officials. Also we reject the frivolous lawsuits," said Jaiswal.
Jaiswal further argued that the service of judicial documents must follow specific protocols involving India's Ministry of Law and Justice rather than direct diplomatic transmission.
"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," said Jaiswal.
The State Department stated that it acted under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which dictates how foreign entities are served in American courts.
"The Department has no discretion in carrying out this request from the District Court under the FSIA," the diplomatic note stated.
The civil case runs parallel to a criminal investigation involving Indian national Nikhil Gupta, who was accused of conspiring to hire a hitman for the assassination attempt.
Gupta pleaded guilty in a New York court in February 2026 to charges including murder conspiracy and money laundering.
The criminal indictment previously identified an Indian government employee, Vikash Yadav, as a co-conspirator in the plot, though New Delhi has maintained its own investigation into the matter.
It remains unclear how the Indian government will respond to the ongoing civil proceedings or whether the court will permit the lawsuit to move forward against the named officials.
Reporting from
- The HinduBalanced
Pannun’s civil lawsuit: U.S. State department formally serves notice to India
- Times of IndiaBalanced
'Malicious': India flays US court summons to NSA over lawsuit by terrorist Pannun
- NDTVBalanced
"Fabricated, Malicious": India Rejects Khalistani Terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun's US Lawsuit
How this article was made: Headlinne wrote it with AI from the 3 reports listed above. Direct quotes are checked word for word against those reports, every number appears in at least one of them, and no other sentence is copied from one. Photos are from those reports and credited to them. Each report’s page on Headlinne links to the outlet’s original.