Former R&AW (Research & Analysis Wing) official, Vikash Yadav, who has been named by the US Department of Justice and charged with directing a plot to assassinate pro-Khalistan separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, received permanent appointment as the intelligence agency’s “senior field officer” last year, only to be removed from the department a few months later, according to legal documents seen by HT.
Documents from the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) showed that Yadav worked for eight years for R&AW but was on probation and was finally confirmed as a “permanent” officer in October last year. However, a bail order from March this year shows he was an “ex-government employee”.
In December last year, the Delhi police’s special cell arrested him and his associate for allegedly abducting a west Delhi-based cafe owner near the NIA office in Delhi. The date of his dismissal from service is not clear. However, police officials in the special cell said he was already dismissed from service when he was arrested last year.
According to an order from the CAT dated November 29, 2023, a deputy secretary from the Aviation Research Centre released an officer order “approving” completion of Yadav’s probation and “confirmation” in the post of senior field officer in the executive cadre of the Directorate of General of Security. The office order came out on October 9 last year. The order shows that in November 2015, Yadav had completed his probation but waited for more than eight years for his job confirmation. His application was deemed “infructuous”.
In the same month (November 2023), the US Department of Justice documented Yadav as a “co-conspirator” and charged him with “murder-for-hire” and money laundering in the Pannun case. The next month (December 2023), he was arrested and received bail in April this year. During the same time last year (month not known), he was dismissed from R&AW.
{{/usCountry}}In the same month (November 2023), the US Department of Justice documented Yadav as a “co-conspirator” and charged him with “murder-for-hire” and money laundering in the Pannun case. The next month (December 2023), he was arrested and received bail in April this year. During the same time last year (month not known), he was dismissed from R&AW.
{{/usCountry}}Special CP (special cell) RP Upadhyaya did not comment on the arrest, the Pannun murder plot and Yadav’s dismissal from R&AW.
HT accessed court orders and the FIR lodged against Yadav alleging he abducted a man and assaulted him using gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s name. Yadav was booked under IPC 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 120B (criminal conspiracy). He was also charged under sections of the Arms Act.
The FIR said the complainant, a cafe owner in west Delhi, was called by Yadav near the NIA office and told that “there is a serious threat” to his life. The complainant stated that when he went to meet him, Yadav’s associate “pushed him into the car”.
“The accused persons tortured and manhandled the complainant and demanded money in the name of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. The accused persons gave beatings and some injection to the complainant and hit on the back side of his neck. The accused persons also brought 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 ₹50,000 kept in his cafe and also deleted all CCTV recordings,” the FIR said.
According to the bail order from March, Yadav went to court seeking bail, stating the reason as his one-year-old daughter suffering from an acute respiratory infection. The bail order mentioned Yadav as an “ex-government employee”. In April, he was released from Tihar jail.