The Justice Department (DOJ) on Thursday announced charges against an Indian government employee who allegedly plotted to kill a Sikh separatist leader in New York City. 

The charges are part of an investigation disclosed last year about a murder-for-hire plot, after the DOJ charged a man in the case who was allegedly recruited by a then-unidentified Indian government employee to carry out the assassination, CBS News reported. 

The new suspect has been identified as 39-year-old Vikash Yadav, who remains at large. Yadav has been charged with one count of murder-for-hire, one count of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. 

“The Justice Department will be relentless in holding accountable any person — regardless of their position or proximity to power — who seeks to harm and silence American citizens,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “As alleged, last year, we foiled an attempt by Vikash Yadav, an Indian government employee, and his co-conspirator, Nikhil Gupta, to assassinate an American citizen on U.S. soil.  Today’s charges demonstrate that the Justice Department will not tolerate attempts to target and endanger Americans and to undermine the rights to which every U.S. citizen is entitled.”

The indictment accused Yadav of conspiring to assassinate a New Yorker of Indian descent, who was a vocal critic of the Indian government. Yadav tasked Gupta with recruiting a hitman in the case, who would be paid $100,000 to carry out the attack. The recruited hitman was actually an undercover Drugs Enforcement Administration (DEA) officer.

Yadav furthered the assassination plot around June of 2023, by providing Gupta with personal information about the unnamed target, including his home address, phone numbers associated with him, and details about the victim’s day-to-day conduct.

Yadav also instructed Gupta to provide regular updates on the progress of the assassination plot.

If convicted, Yadav faces up to 10 years in prison for each of the murder-for-hire charges, and up to 20 years in prison for the conspiracy to commit money laundering charge.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.