By Krishna Kaushik
PRANPURA, India (Reuters) – A former Indian official accused by the United States of directing a murder-for-hire plot has denied the costs, his household mentioned, expressing shock that Vikash Yadav was needed by the FBI.
Yadav, 39, described the claims as faux media experiences when he spoke to his cousin, Avinash Yadav, the relative instructed Reuters on Saturday of their ancestral village about 100 km (60 miles) from the capital New Delhi.
The US Justice Department accused Yadav of main a failed plot to kill Sikh separatist chief Gurpatwant Singh Pannun final yr. Yadav was an officer of India’s intelligence service’s analysis and evaluation wing, in response to the indictment unsealed on Thursday.
India, which mentioned it was investigating the allegations, mentioned Yadav was not a authorities worker, with out saying whether or not he had been an intelligence officer.
“The household has no data” that he works for the spy company, mentioned Yadav’s cousin in Pranpura village, Haryana state. “He by no means talked about it,” though the 2 spoke commonly.
“For us he’s nonetheless working for the CRPF,” the Central Reserve federal police drive, which he joined in 2009, mentioned Avinash Yadav, 28. “He instructed us he’s deputy commander” and was educated as a paratrooper.
The cousin mentioned he didn’t know the place Yadav was however that he lives along with his spouse and a daughter born final yr.
Indian officers haven’t commented on Yadav’s whereabouts. The Washington Post, citing American officers, reported Thursday that Yadav was nonetheless in India and that the United States would search his extradition.
His mom, Sudesh Yadav, 65, mentioned she was nonetheless in shock. “What can I say? I do not know if the American authorities is telling the reality or not.”
“He labored for the nation,” he mentioned.
The United States accuses Yadav of ordering one other Indian citizen, Nikhil Gupta, who allegedly paid a employed hitman $15,000, to kill Pannun.
But in Pranpura, Yadav’s cousin pointed to the household’s modest, single-storey home, saying: “Where will a lot cash come from? Can you see any Audis and Mercedes lined up outdoors this home?”
Most of the village’s almost 500 households have historically despatched younger males to hitch the safety forces, locals mentioned.
Yadav’s father, who died in 2007, was an Indian Border Force officer till his loss of life in 2007, and his brother works with the police in Haryana, Avinash Yadav mentioned.
Another cousin, Amit Yadav, 41, mentioned Vikash Yadav was a quiet boy interested by books and athletics and was a national-level marksman.
“Only the Indian authorities and Vikash know what occurred,” he mentioned, including that Indian officers ought to inform them.
If the federal government “abandons” a paramilitary officer, Amit Yadav mentioned, “then who will work for them?”
Avinash Yadav mentioned, “We need the Indian authorities to assist us, inform us what occurred. Otherwise the place will we go?”
(Reporting by Krishn Kaushik in Pranpura; Editing by William Mallard)
