The US State Department has delivered legal papers in Gurpatwant Singh Pannun’s civil lawsuit against the Indian government to the Indian Embassy in Washington.
Pannun’s 2024 lawsuit alleges that Indian officials were involved in a plot to assassinate him in New York in 2023.
The State Department told a federal court that the diplomatic transmission does not establish its position on whether service was legally effected.
The US State Department has transmitted the summons, complaint and notice of suit in a civil lawsuit filed by Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun to the Indian Embassy in Washington through a diplomatic note, informing a federal court that the documents were delivered to the mission.
The development was confirmed in a letter from the State Department to the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, dated October 20, 2026, and filed on October 28. The letter stated that the documents were delivered to the Indian Embassy under cover of a diplomatic note signed on September 30 and delivered on October 9.
The letter concerns the case Gurpatwant Singh Pannun v. The Government of India, et al., in which the Indian government and several individuals have been named as defendants.
The lawsuit, filed on September 17, 2024, names the Indian government, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief Samant Goel, Vikram Yadav, Nikhil Gupta and unidentified individuals as defendants. The complaint identifies Yadav as a former RAW officer. Pannun has alleged that Indian officials were involved in a plot to assassinate him in New York in 2023.
The case is separate from the criminal prosecution of Gupta in the US. Gupta pleaded guilty in February 2026 to murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with the alleged assassination plot. US prosecutors said Gupta had worked at the direction of Vikash Yadav, an Indian government employee, to arrange the killing. The criminal proceedings name Vikash Yadav, while Pannun's civil lawsuit identifies a separate defendant, Vikram Yadav.
India has rejected allegations of government involvement in the plot. In October 2024, the Ministry of External Affairs said that Vikash Yadav, the individual named in the US criminal indictment, was no longer employed by the government.
The State Department said its transmission of the documents was part of its statutory functions under Section 1608(a)(4) of the US Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. It clarified that the action did not indicate its position on whether the plaintiffs had complied with all the requirements of the Act, the status or character of the defendants, whether service had been properly effected, or the merits of the claims and any possible defences.
