Made scapegoat: Lawyers of ex-RAW official charged by US in Pannun murder plot

The lawyers of Vikash Yadav, the former RAW official named by the US in the failed assassination plot of Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, said that he was being made a “scapegoat in international politics”.
Speaking to India Today TV, Yadav’s lawyers RK Handoo and Aditya Choudhary said that there was no truth to the allegations levelled against him and that he was being made a scapegoat in international politics.
The US Justice Department charged the former Indian intelligence officer, identified as CC-1 in its indictment, in the failed plot to kill Pannun.
According to Vikash Yadav’s lawyers, he got to know about these allegations through media reports.
“Vikas Yadav has never stepped out of the country. He has never travelled abroad,” his lawyers told India Today TV.
They also called the US allegations a conspiracy against India and the government.
The lawyers also rejected allegations about an earlier extortion case against Vikash Yadav being used to shield him from extradition to the US.
“This is equivalent to casting aspersions on the entire judicial system in India,” they said. “Due process is being followed and the courts are looking into the matter.”
“Not right to say that the case has been filed only to stop his extradition,” they added.
The charges against Vikash Yadav were part of a second indictment that was unsealed in a New York court. Yadav’s alleged co-conspirator, Nikhil Gupta, was previously charged and extradited to the United States.
The indictment alleged that Yadav collaborated with individuals in India and abroad to orchestrate the assassination of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
The indictment alleged that Yadav and Gupta contracted an individual to carry out the assassination for USD 100,000, only to discover that the hired assassin was actually an FBI informant.
The Ministry of External Affairs said that the person mentioned in the US indictment over the foiled assassination plot of Pannun was no longer employed by the Indian government.