Washington:
The United States is awaiting the results of India's investigation into allegations related to a plot to kill Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the US, a State Department official said.
“They (the Indian government) have opened a Commission of Inquiry to look into the matter and that work is ongoing; we await the results. But we have made it very clear that it is something that we take seriously and we think we need to take this seriously too,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters at his daily news conference.
Miller was responding to a question about allegations that Indian government officials were involved in a plot to assassinate Pannun, a U.S. citizen and Sikh separatist leader.
“I would like to refer you to the Canadian authorities to discuss the details of the investigation there. With regard to the charges filed in the United States, I will let the Department of Justice speak to that in detail,” he said. reporters.
“And then the one thing I would say is, when it comes to the State Department, when these allegations were first made public, we made it clear that it is something that we think India needs to take very seriously take and investigate,” Miller added.
The Washington Post, citing unnamed sources, recently named a Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) officer in connection with the alleged plot to assassinate Pannun on US soil last year.
India has strongly rejected the US daily's report, saying the report made “baseless and baseless” allegations about a serious matter and that an investigation into the matter was underway.
“The report in question makes baseless and baseless allegations on a serious matter,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Mr Jaiswal said a high-level investigative committee set up by New Delhi to probe US inputs on the alleged plot was still investigating the matter.
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