The Washington Post has reported that the aborted attempt on US-based Khalistani activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun was green-flagged by the RAW chief of the time, Samant Goel, a charge New Delhi has dismissed as “unwarranted and unsubstantiated”.

On Monday, WaPo — in a report headlined “An assassination plot on American soil reveals a darker side of Modi’s India” — identified a RAW official, Vikram Yadav, as the Indian officer who was giving instructions to the hired assassin.

“Yadav’s identity and affiliation, which have not previously been reported, provide the most explicit evidence to date that the assassination plan — ultimately thwarted by US authorities — was directed from within the Indian spy service. Higher-ranking RAW officials have also been implicated, according to current and former Western security officials, as part of a sprawling investigation by the CIA, FBI and other agencies that has mapped potential links to Modi’s inner circle,” the report alleged.

It added: “In reports that have been closely held within the American government, US intelligence agencies have assessed that the operation targeting Pannun was approved by the RAW chief at the time, Samant Goel.”

The report added: “That finding is consistent with accounts provided to The Washington Post by former senior Indian security officials who had knowledge of the operation and said Goel was under extreme pressure to eliminate the alleged threat of Sikh extremists overseas. US spy agencies have more tentatively assessed that Modi’s national security adviser, Ajit Doval, was probably aware of RAW’s plans to kill Sikh activists, but officials emphasised that no smoking gun proof has emerged.”

The Telegraph has not been able to independently verify these details.

The ministry of external affairs (MEA) on Tuesday dismissed the WaPo report which claimed former RAW chief Goel had approved the aborted hit job on Pannun though politically it fits into the BJP’s “ghar mein ghus kar maarenge” narrative and could surface during the campaign like the “Modi paused the war in Ukraine” claim which, too, had been trashed by the ministry.

Responding to queries from the media on the WaPo report, external affairs ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said: “The report in question makes unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations on a serious matter.”

Flagging the ongoing investigation of the high-level committee set up by the government to look into the security concerns shared by the US government on networks of organised criminals, terrorists and others, he added: “Speculative and irresponsible comments on it are not helpful.”

The government has till date not disclosed details about the committee vis-à-vis who is heading it, the names of its members, and by when it has to submit the report.

After the US department of justice indicted an Indian drug and gun runner, Nikhil Gupta, in November-end for trying to orchestrate Pannun’s assassination allegedly on the instructions of an Indian government agent, New Delhi announced the setting up of the committee to look into all the “relevant aspects” of inputs provided by the US “pertaining to nexus between organised criminals, gun runners, terrorists and others”.

The Post report also notes that western security officials were stunned “that India would pursue lethal operations in North America”, noting that it reflects a profound shift in geopolitics. “After years of being treated as a second-tier player, India sees itself as a rising force in a new era of global competition, one that even the United States cannot afford to alienate,” the WaPo report pointed out, quoting a western security official as saying India took the risk of doing this because New Delhi knew it could get away with it.

The report further named Yadav in the operation that led to the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had informed his Parliament in October about an Indian government hand in the killing of Nijjar, a Canadian citizen. India rejected the allegation and bilateral relations plummeted further.

According to WaPo, the “foiled assassination (of Pannun) was part of an escalating campaign of aggression by RAW against the Indian diaspora in Asia, Europe and North America…. The Indian intelligence service has ramped up its surveillance and harassment of Sikhs and other groups overseas perceived as disloyal to the Modi government, officials said. RAW officers and agents have faced arrest, expulsion and reprimand in countries including Australia, Germany and Britain, according to officials who provided details to The Post that have not previously been made public….

“India is part of an expanding roster of countries employing tactics previously associated with China, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and other repressive regimes. It is a trend fuelled by factors ranging from surging strains of nationalism and authoritarianism to the spread of social media and spyware that both empower and endanger dissident groups.”

The Post report also places on record efforts by the Biden administration to control the damage. “Even in recent days, the Biden administration has taken steps to contain the fallout from the assassination plot. White House officials warned the Modi government this month that The Post was close to publishing an investigation that would reveal new details about the case. It did so without notifying The Post.”

The BJP’s ecosystem is often wont to view accounts like the WaPo story as “proof” of the Modi government’s “zero tolerance of terrorism” and its ‘ghar mein ghuske marenge’ credo, official denials notwithstanding. The claim of Modi intervening to pause the war in Ukraine to get Indian students out is a recent case in point with even defence minister Rajnath Singh claiming this despite an official denial by the MEA.