"Fabricated, malicious attacks": India rejects US court order involving officials in Sikh separatist Pannun case

New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday rejected the lawsuit filed by Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun against Indian officials in the United States, after a US federal court allowed him to pursue the service of summons on National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and former Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) chief Samant Goel through Indian courts.

Responding to the development, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal in the biweekly media briefing said, "We reject the fabricated and malicious attacks on our high officials. Also, we reject the frivolous lawsuits."

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He further said, "A request for the service of judicial documents in India can only be routed through India's designated central authority, which is the Ministry of Law and Justice."

The development relates to a November 9 order by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York in the civil lawsuit filed by Pannun. The court, presided over by US District Judge Katherine Polk Failla, granted Pannun's request to pursue service of summons on Doval and Goel through Indian courts.

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According to the reported details of the order, Pannun has been asked to submit a proposed packet by November 30, containing copies of the summons, a proposed order specifying the method of service, the relevant Indian legal provisions and documents relating to earlier attempts to serve the papers through the Hague Convention. The court would then consider the proposed documents before its clerk transmits the packet to the Indian courts identified in the request.

The ruling concerns the procedure for serving legal documents on the two officials and does not constitute a finding on the allegations made in the civil lawsuit.

Pannun filed the lawsuit in September 2024, naming the Government of India, Doval, Goel, Nikhil Gupta, Vikash Yadav and other unnamed individuals as defendants. He has alleged that Indian officials were involved in a plot to assassinate him in New York in 2023. These allegations remain allegations in the civil proceedings.

The civil lawsuit is separate from the criminal case pursued by US prosecutors against Gupta in connection with the alleged assassination plot. Gupta pleaded guilty in February 2026 to charges including murder-for-hire conspiracy and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

India has rejected allegations of involvement by its officials in the alleged plot. Jaiswal's remarks reiterate New Delhi's rejection of the lawsuit and its position that requests for service of judicial documents in India must be routed through the Ministry of Law and Justice, the country's designated central authority.