‘US made made it clear to India that it seeks accountability’

New Delhi: The US has consistently pressed India for updates on the Indian investigation into the alleged foiled plot to kill Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun and made it clear that it seeks accountability in the case, a senior Biden administration official said on Wednesday.

US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said the US raised the issue directly at the most senior levels of the Indian government.

Campbell made the comments at a virtual media briefing on his and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s visit to India last week.

“We have had constructive dialogue with India on this topic and I would say that they have been responsive to our concerns,” he said.

“We’ve made clear that we seek accountability from the Government of India and we have consistently asked for updates on the Indian committee of inquiry’s investigations,” the senior official said.

“And I would just simply say that we raised this issue directly with the Indian government...at the most senior levels between our two sides,” he said. Campbell was responding to a question on whether the ‘murder-for-hire’ plot targeting Pannun was raised during meetings that he and Sullivan held with their Indian counterparts. In November last year, US federal prosecutors charged Indian national Nikhil Gupta of working with an Indian government employee in the foiled plot to kill Pannun in New York.

Pannun, wanted in India on terror charges, holds dual citizenship of the US and Canada.