New Delhi/Washington: India has rejected allegations made by Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun against National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and former Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) chief Samant Goel in a US civil lawsuit, describing the claims as “fabricated and malicious”.
The response from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) came after two separate developments in the case: the US State Department's transmission of court documents concerning the Indian government to the Indian Embassy in Washington, and a New York court's decision allowing Pannun to pursue an alternative route to serve summonses on Doval and Goel through courts in Delhi.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India rejected the allegations as well as the legal proceedings.
“We reject the fabricated and malicious attacks on our high officials. Also, we reject the frivolous lawsuits. A request for serving of judicial documents in India can only be routed through India's designated central authority that is the Ministry of Law and Justice,” Jaiswal said at a media briefing on Tuesday.
In an order dated November 9, US District Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the Southern District of New York allowed Pannun to pursue service of summonses on Doval and Goel through designated district courts in Delhi.
The court relied on Article 19 of the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents, which preserves certain domestic procedures for transmitting foreign judicial documents.
It referred to Section 29(c) of India's Code of Civil Procedure, which allows summonses issued by notified foreign civil courts to be transmitted to Indian courts for service.
Pannun has been directed to submit a proposed service packet by November 30. The court clerk will transmit the documents to the identified Indian courts after reviewing and approving the submission.
The order does not mean that Doval or Goel have already received the summonses. Nor does it establish the allegations made against them or determine their liability in the case.
Separately, the US State Department confirmed that it had transmitted summonses and related documents concerning the Indian government to the Indian Embassy in Washington through diplomatic channels.
The diplomatic note was signed on September 30 and delivered on October 9, according to the department.
The note referred to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), saying the department had no discretion in carrying out the District Court's request. However, it made clear that the transmission should not be interpreted as support for Pannun's allegations.
The department said its action did not reflect a position on whether the plaintiff had met the statutory requirements under the FSIA, whether service had been properly completed, or whether the claims and defences had merit.
It also clarified that the US government was not a party to the lawsuit and could not represent any of the parties. Any jurisdictional objections, including claims of sovereign immunity, would have to be raised before the court hearing the case.
Pannun, legal counsel for the US-based organisation Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), filed the civil lawsuit in September 2024. It names the Government of India, Doval, Goel, former R&AW officer Vikash Yadav, Indian national Nikhil Gupta and other unnamed individuals as defendants.
He has alleged that Indian officials were involved in a conspiracy to assassinate him in New York in 2023. India has rejected allegations of official involvement. SFJ is banned in India, and Pannun is wanted by Indian investigative agencies in connection with terror-related cases.
The civil proceedings are separate from the criminal case brought by US prosecutors against Gupta. In November 2023, prosecutors accused him of working with an Indian government employee in an alleged murder-for-hire conspiracy targeting Pannun.
Gupta pleaded guilty in February 2026 to murder-for-hire, conspiracy, and money-laundering charges, according to reports on the proceedings. His guilty plea in the criminal case does not establish the allegations against Doval, Goel or the Indian government in the separate civil lawsuit.
The US court's latest order concerns the procedure for serving legal documents. The substantive allegations and the defendants' potential legal defences remain to be considered in the civil proceedings.
(With inputs from PTI)