Khalistan ‘flag’ case: US says cannot share Pannun bank details

Asked by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for details of bank account numbers and phone numbers related to Pannun, the US authorities, citing their law, declined the request since the punishment for the alleged offence in their country is within one year and they, therefore, could not seek such details, a source said.

Wanted in India on terror charges, Pannun holds dual citizenship of the US and Canada. He has been designated as a terrorist by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and there are multiple cases registered against him.

On August 14, 2020 — it was the eve of Independence Day — two men breached the security cover and entered the District Administration Complex (Deputy Commissioner’s office building) in Moga, raised the so-called Khalistan flag on the terrace and desecrated the Tricolour on the premises.

Harmanbir Singh Gill, who was then the Moga SSP, had said that the two men were captured on CCTV cameras and had “probably fallen in the trap of Pannun’s announcement”. Pannun had offered $2,500 to anyone who would replace an Indian flag with that of the so-called Khalistan atop buildings in Punjab and Haryana ahead of Independence Day.

On September 5, 2020, the case was re-registered by the NIA under Sections 121, 124 (A), 153A, 153B of the Indian Penal Code and Section 2 of Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act. The NIA started communicating with the US authorities under the mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT).

“After the case was re-registered with the NIA, Indian authorities started communicating with them. In the meantime, the NIA, during its investigation, found some bank account numbers and phone numbers, allegedly related to Pannun. The agency later asked them (US authorities) to provide details of bank account numbers and phone numbers,” a source in the MHA said.

The source confirmed that in their latest reply, authorities in the US, citing their law, have declined to provide details.

Reached for comment, a US official in New Delhi said, “US and Indian law enforcement cooperate closely on a range of criminal issues. The US Embassy, New Delhi, is not aware of any inquiry into this case.”

Incidentally, in October this year, for the first time since the US accused an unnamed Indian official, CC-1, of allegedly trying to kill Pannun, federal prosecutors named Vikash Yadav as the intelligence official and charged him with “murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and money laundering.” Yadav’s alleged co-conspirator, Nikhil Gupta, was previously charged and extradited to the US.