The Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s premier intelligence agency, has reportedly halted its operations in North America, said a report published by The Print.
The purported decision was taken ahead of anticipated criminal charges against one of its citizens, Nikhil Gupta, accused of conspiring to assassinate pro-Sikh activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York.
The new allegations heightened global attention on RAW, with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last September accused Indian government of the killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Vancouver.
India vehemently denied the claims, leading to the expulsion of RAW’s station chief from Canada.
The fallout from the Vancouver incident has raised concerns about increased international scrutiny on RAW.
Analysts suggest that the agency, galvanized by the 2008 Mumbai attacks, gradually expanded its influence in Western nations. The failure to extradite a US citizen involved in the Mumbai attacks reportedly motivated RAW to assert itself further in the West.
Recent reports reveal that two high-ranking RAW officers were asked to leave their posts in major Western cities earlier this summer. The officers, heading the RAW station in San Francisco and serving as the second-in-command in London, were reportedly expelled as a signal of discontent from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom over perceived violations of operational conventions.
The expulsion of RAW’s officers, combined with the publicly-declared expulsion of its Ottawa station chief, Pavan Rai, has left the agency unrepresented in North America for the first time in its history.
Prosecutors in the US allege that Nikhil Gupta was offered up to $150,000 by an individual claiming to work for Indian intelligence services to arrange the murder of an unnamed Khalistan lawyer and activist.
According to the reports, the RAW officer’s expulsion in San Francisco was driven by concerns that the US would not cooperate with Indian intelligence if offensive operations in the West persisted. British intelligence reportedly expressed discontent over RAW’s increasing involvement in Sikh diasporic politics in the UK.
