Breaking silence on the allegation of Indian involvement in a plot to assassinate Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "If someone gives us any information, we would definitely look into it."
Speaking in an interview with the Financial times on Wednesday, Modi said, "If a citizen of ours has done anything good or bad, we are ready to look into it. Our commitment is to the rule of law".
PM Modi told the outlet that India has always been extremely concerned about "certain extremist" groups abroad, adding that "these elements, under the guise of freedom of expression, have engaged in intimidation and incited violence".
Talking about India-US ties, Modi said, “There is strong bipartisan support for the strengthening of this relationship, which is a clear indicator of a mature and stable partnership. I don’t think it is appropriate to link a few incidents with diplomatic relations between the two countries.”
US authorities had earlier alleged the Nikhil Gupta, 52, an Indian citizen, agreed to pay an assassin $100,000 to kill the Sikh separatist leader living in New York City.
Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic on June 30 at the request of the US in connection with his alleged participation in the plot to kill Pannun. He was slapped with murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire charges, both of which carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison each.
In response, New Delhi formed a high-level team to probe the allegations regarding the Pannun assassination plot.
