New Delhi: Former CAPF and R&AW officer Vikash Yadav, accused by the US Department of Justice in the “murder for hire” plot against Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun and money laundering, was arrested by the Delhi Police on charges of attempted murder, kidnapping, extortion, and Arms Act violations, sources confirmed to ThePrint. He is on the FBI’s “most wanted” list, with a federal arrest warrant issued against him on 10 October.
Yadav, sources confirmed, was arrested in December last year and granted bail in April this year.
According to highly placed sources in the Delhi Police, Yadav was arrested after a complaint was filed and an FIR was subsequently registered under Indian Penal Code sections 364A (kidnapping for ransom), 307 (attempt to murder), 328 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc. with intent to commit an offence), 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongfully restraining someone), 392 (robbery), 411 (dishonestly receiving or retaining stolen property) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy). He was also charged under sections of the Arms Act.
He was mentioned as CC-1 (co-conspirator) in the original indictment filed by the US DoJ in 2023.
A media report Saturday said that a complaint was filed against Yadav on allegations of kidnapping and links to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. Sources confirmed these allegations to ThePrint but did not provide further details.
Co-accused in the case, Abdullah Khan was arrested along with Yadav.
According to the court order, Khan, too, had “approached the court to visit Dubai/Sharjah, Saudi Arabia to meet his parents from 14.08.2024 to 23.08.2024. The authorities strongly opposed the travel abroad application. However the court on 12 August this year allowed the application on grounds that he shall furnish his operational mobile number to the SHO/IO concerned, which he will be using during the period of travel abroad and he shall be readily available telephonically, he shall always keep the location ‘on’ of his given mobile number, he shall submit all the self attested copies of the travel documents viz. Visa, Air Tickets, etc. relating to his journey with the court before leaving the country, among other things.”
According to a court order citing the FIR, accessed by ThePrint, on 11 December 2023, the complainant, along with his friend Abhijit, went to meet Vikash Yadav, who was with co-accused Abdullah Khan. Yadav, a previous acquaintance, allegedly warned the complainant of a serious threat and asked to meet near the NIA office in Delhi. There, Khan allegedly forced the complainant into a car, tortured him, and demanded money in the name of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.
“The accused persons gave beatings and some injections to the complainant and hit on the back side of his neck. The accused persons also brought a bank cheque book from the cafe of the complainant and got his signature on blank cheques and later on dropped him near his car threatening to remain silent. After returning back the complainant came to know that the accused persons had also taken away Rs.50,000/- kept in his cafe and also deleted all CCTV recordings. Accordingly with the allegations leveled by the complainant, FIR was registered and investigation was carried out (sic),” the order containing the brief of the FIR said.
Khan, according to the order, was in judicial custody since 23 December, 2023.
Sources have said that Khan was granted bail on 23 February, 2024. The chargesheet, they added, was filed around 11 march this year.
Meanwhile, sources close to Khan claim that he has never met Vikash Yadav before and was “framed” in the case.
ThePrint reached Special Commissioner of Police Special Cell R.P. Upadhyay, Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora and the Ministry of External Affairs via calls. This report will be updated if and when responses are received.
According to an interim bail order from March, accessed by ThePrint, Yadav had sought bail under Section 439 of the CrPC (which gives High Court or Court of Session special powers to grant, refuse, or cancel bail). Yadav cited his one-year-old daughter’s illness—”acute respiratory infection”—as the reason for his bail request.
“The applicant/accused Vikas Yadav is admitted to interim bail for a period of 06 days i.e. till 28.03.2024, on his furnishing bail bond in the sum of Rs.30,000/- with one surety in the like amount to the satisfaction of Ld. CMM/MM/Link MM/Duty MM (sic),” the order dated 22 March, 2024 notes.
“The applicant/accused is an ex-government employee and having clean antecedents. That the investigation qua the applicant/accused is already complete and charge sheet has already been filed. It is prayed that the applicant/accused may kindly be enlarged on bail,” the order adds.
Yadav was then granted bail in April and released from Delhi’s Tihar jail, sources confirmed.
The first US indictment, issued in November 2023, names Nikhil Gupta, a 52-year-old Indian citizen, as the individual who contacted the “undercover (UC) law enforcement official”. Gupta is currently on trial and jailed in Brooklyn. The indictment also states that Gupta was acting under the direction of Indian government officials, with one unnamed official referred to as “CC-1”. The Washington Post had reported that the official was “Vikram Yadav”, a mid-level CRPF officer seconded to R&AW.
Two days ago, a second superseding indictment by the US DoJ named Vikash Yadav as the Indian government official previously referred to as “CC-1”. The indictment revealed that Yadav had served as an assistant commandant in the CRPF and had also been employed by the Cabinet Secretariat, which R&AW is a part of. The Indian government has since informed the US that Yadav was dismissed from government service.
According to the indictment, Yadav had reached out to Gupta on 6 May, 2023, to plot India-designated terrorist Pannun’s murder.
This is an updated version of the report
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