News Brief
US Court Dismisses Khalistan Terrorist Pannun's Claim That NSA Doval Was Served Legal Notice During Washington Visit
India's National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval.
Dismissing a claim by Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US court has said that no complaint was delivered to National Security Advisor Ajit Doval during his visit to Washington in February, news agency PTI reported.
Pannun had claimed that court documents, including a summons, had been served on the top Indian official.
"The Court has reviewed the above letter and attached exhibits... and finds that service was not completed. The Complaint was not delivered to a member of the hotel management or staff or any officers or agents providing security for Defendant, as required by the Court's Order," US District Judge Katherine Polk Failla said in the recent order, PTI reported.
Pannun has filed a civil suit against Doval and and an Indian national Nikhil Gupta.
Gupta is accused by US prosecutors of collaborating with an Indian official to target Pannun in a failed assassination attempt on American soil.
According to court filings, Pannun claimed that during the 12-13 February visit of NSA Doval to Washington with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he arranged for the complaint to be served.
He said he hired two process servers and an investigator for this task.
The first attempt occurred on 12 February at Blair House, where Doval was staying with the Indian delegation.
Pannun stated there was tight security and barricades at the site.
"He showed the Secret Service agent a copy of this Court's Order, but the agent refused to accept any documents and told the individual to leave the checkpoint," Pannun said in court papers.
Pannun claimed the hired individual feared arrest and did not press further.
A second attempt was made on 13 February by another individual.
Pannun said the individual was stopped by three Secret Service agents outside Blair House.
The agents allegedly refused him entry and did not accept the documents.
The individual told the agents that he would place the envelope containing the service documents on the ground in front of them but one of the agents told him that "if he left the documents on the ground, agents would arrest him".
The individual then left the documents at a coffee store near Blair House and told the Secret Service agents to retrieve them and give them to Doval.
In court papers, Pannun claims that he has completed the process of serving the complaint on Doval, which the court rejected.
