New York: A US court made it clear that India’s National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval was not given any court document during his visit to Washington in February. The court dismissed the claim of Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannu that the top Indian official was given other court documents including summons.
In the recent order, US District Judge Catherine Polk Fati said, “The court reviewed the above documents and the existing file… and found that it could not reach the person concerned. The court document was not given to a member or staff or defendant of the hotel management (complaint against whom) was not given to an officer or agent providing protection, as required as per the court order.”
Pannu has filed a civil case against Doval and another Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta. Federal lawyers have accused Gupta that he had worked with a government employee of India in a failed conspiracy to assassinate Pannu on American land.
Pannu has claimed in the court documents that Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the US on February 12-13 to meet President Donald Trump, then Doval also reached Washington with him and during this time he appointed “Two law professionals and an investigator” to hand over the court documents.
According to Pannu, on February 12, the guest building of Rashtrapati Bhavan ‘Blair House’ attempted to give a court document to Doval, where Modi and his delegation stayed during the visit of Washington DC. Pannu said in the court documents that there was tight security arrangements outside the ‘Blair House’, barricades were installed around it and the secret service agents were guarding the only check post.
He said that the person who came to give the court documents approached one of these agents and told that he had come there to give legal documents to Doval and he has a court order allowed to hand over the documents to any member of the Secret Service providing security to the NSA.
Pannu said in the court documents, “The person showed a copy of the court order to the secret service agent, but the agent refused to take any documents and asked the person to leave.” Pannu said that the person whom he had appointed to complain, he was “afraid that if he did any other action, he would be arrested.”
According to Pannu, on 13 February the next day, another person attempted to give a document to Doval to Blair House, but the ‘three Secret Service Agent’, including a Sergeant, stopped him at the check post outside the Blair House. According to Pannu, after this the person left the document in a coffee store near Blair House and asked the secret service agent to pick it up and give it to Doval. Pannu claimed that he had completed the process of giving court documents to Doval, but the court rejected his claim.