US Court Allows Summons For NSA Ajit Doval, Ex-RAW Chief Samant Goel In Pannun Case

A US court has allowed Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun to serve legal papers on National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief Samant Goel through courts in Delhi in a civil lawsuit alleging a conspiracy to assassinate him in New York in 2023.

The order was issued on November 9 by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, with Judge Katherine Polk Failla setting November 30, 2026, as the deadline for Pannun to submit a proposed service packet. The documents will be examined before the court clerk transmits them to the identified Indian courts. Doval and Goel have not yet been served through this route.

Pannun is a US-based Sikh separatist and a leading figure in Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), which campaigns for an independent Khalistan. India has designated him a terrorist and banned SFJ as an unlawful organisation. He was also associated with Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was killed in Canada in June 2023. Nijjar's murder triggered a diplomatic row after then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged links to Indian government agents, a charge New Delhi rejected.

Pannun filed the lawsuit in September 2024, naming the Government of India, Doval, Goel, Nikhil Gupta, Vikash Yadav and others as defendants. He has accused Indian officials of orchestrating an alleged assassination plot and is seeking damages.

India has rejected the allegations. Responding to the court's development on Tuesday, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, "We reject the fabricated and malicious attacks on our high officials. Also, we reject the frivolous lawsuits." He added that requests to serve judicial documents in India must be routed through the designated central authority, the Ministry of Law and Justice.

Pannun had earlier attempted to serve Doval during his visits to the US, claiming security personnel prevented the delivery. In April 2025, the court rejected his claim that Doval had been served during a Washington visit in February that year.

Separately, the US Department of State delivered summonses and the complaint against the Indian government to the Indian Embassy in Washington on October 9, 2026, through diplomatic channels.

The civil lawsuit is linked to a separate US criminal investigation into an alleged murder-for-hire plot. Indian national Nikhil Gupta, arrested in the Czech Republic in 2023 and extradited to the US, pleaded guilty in February 2026 to charges including conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and money laundering. US prosecutors alleged that he worked with Vikash Yadav, described as an Indian government employee affiliated with RAW at the time.

Gupta's guilty plea does not establish the allegations against Doval, Goel or the Indian government in the separate civil case. India has formed a committee to examine Washington's concerns, while Yadav is facing legal proceedings in India.