Vikash Yadav, 'wanted' in Pannun case, was arrested by Delhi Police in 2023

Vikash Yadav's troubles began before his name appeared in DoJ files, having spent four months in Tihar Jail before being added to the FBI's wanted list

Less than three weeks after being named in United States Department of Justice (DoJ) documents as “CC-1” — a co-conspirator in a plot to kill pro-Khalistan separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun — Vikash Yadav found himself in deeper trouble. Yadav, arrested last December by the Delhi Police Special Cell in an unrelated extortion case, was thrust back into the spotlight on Friday after the DoJ formally charged him with murder-for-hire and money laundering in the alleged Pannun assassination plot, reported The Indian Express.

Yadav's troubles began long before his name surfaced in the explosive DoJ files. Records show he spent four months in Delhi’s Tihar Jail before being granted bail in April this year. However, his arrest and later release in Delhi gained significance as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) New York office added him to their wanted list, seeking any information that could lead to his capture.

 

Yadav’s arrest in December 2023 was tied to an extortion and kidnapping case, not the high-profile international murder-for-hire scheme he is now infamous for. A Rohini resident had filed a First Information Report (FIR), accusing Yadav of extortion and linking him to gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. The resident, a former Information Technology (IT) entrepreneur with connections in West Asia, claimed that his encounter with Yadav quickly escalated from casual conversations to life-threatening encounters.

It started when the complainant, introduced to Yadav as a senior government official, developed a friendship. Over time, Yadav allegedly expressed unusual interest in the complainant's foreign contacts and financial transactions. Things took a darker turn on December 11, when Yadav warned him of imminent danger to his life.

According to the complaint, Yadav and an accomplice forcibly abducted the complainant from Lodhi Road and drove him to a flat near Defence Colony. There, Yadav allegedly revealed that a contract (“supari”) had been placed on the complainant’s life by Lawrence Bishnoi, purportedly at the behest of a Dubai-based individual. The complainant claimed that Yadav’s accomplice hit him on the head, demanding his gold jewellery, and later extorted cash from a cafe he owned.

After releasing him with threats of dire consequences, Yadav and his associate were arrested the following day by the Special Cell. The charges against them ranged from abduction and extortion to attempted murder, with a March chargesheet outlining their roles in the crime.

 

Yadav’s background, as revealed during the police investigation, adds another layer of intrigue. The son of a Border Security Force (BSF) officer who passed away in 2007, Yadav reportedly concocted the extortion plot to make quick money after meeting the complainant at a social gathering. His associate, a car dealer facing financial woes, admitted to joining Yadav in the ill-fated scheme.

Despite his alleged criminal involvement, Yadav’s past as a former government employee and his apparent clean record prompted the court to grant him interim bail in March this year. The Additional Sessions Judge at Patiala House Courts, citing the illness of Yadav’s one-year-old daughter, took a lenient view and allowed him six days of interim bail, later extended to regular bail in April.

However, Yadav’s brief taste of freedom is now under threat as the FBI zeroes in on his alleged role in the international conspiracy to kill Pannun. The man once seen as just another suspect in a local extortion case now faces far graver accusations that span continents and involve money laundering and murder-for-hire.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Delhi Police spokesperson, and senior officials have remained tight-lipped on the issue, offering no further clarity on Yadav’s current status or the allegations against him.