The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: A senior US administration official said on Tuesday (February 20) that India is taking the allegations of Indian officials’ involvement in the thwarted plot to kill a Sikh separatist “very seriously” and that the US is looking forward to the findings of the high-level inquiry established to investigate the matter.
Last November, US prosecutors unsealed an indictment which charged an Indian national named Nikhil Gupta for attempting to hire a hitman to kill the counsel for a pro-Khalistan group, Sikhs for Justice, that is banned by India.
The charges also claimed that Gupta was recruited by an Indian government official.
Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic in June last year and is currently facing extradition to the United States.
Just as the indictment was made public, the Indian government had set up a high-level committee to look into the charges.
“On the issue that was raised, look, we raised our concerns with the government of India. There is a committee of inquiry looking into the matter and we will stay engaged with the government and look forward to their findings and they’ve taken it very seriously. And we’re grateful for that,” said US deputy secretary of state Richard Verma at an interaction organised by the Observer Research Foundation think tank on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, the chair of the powerful US senate foreign affairs committee, Ben Cardin, said that he had given his approval for the sale of military drones to India only after getting assurances from White House that the charges are being “thoroughly” investigated and that there is “credible accountability”.