The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is “aggressively” investigating the attacks on the Indian Consulate in San Francisco on March 19 and July 2 this year, chief of premier US agency Christopher Wray told the National Investigation Agency (NIA) director general Dinkar Gupta during a high-level meeting in Delhi.
Gupta told the delegation led by Wray, which visited NIA headquarters on Tuesday, that the nexus of terrorists and gangsters was “spreading to the US as well”.
The consulate was attacked by pro-Khalistan supporters on July 2 who tried to set the diplomatic facility on fire following the killing of separatist Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. Earlier, on March 19, a group of pro-Khalistan protesters attacked and damaged the Indian consulate in San Francisco.
The FBI chief is on a three-day visit to the country to meet top security and intelligence officials for discussions on strengthening mutual cooperation, sharing information, cybercrimes, extraditions etc. He met Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director Praveen Sood on Monday.
The visit, although planned in May, comes against the backdrop of activities of pro-Khalistan elements operating from the US and Canadian soil and an indictment filed by US prosecutors in a federal court in Manhattan last month, which alleged an Indian government employee who described himself as a “senior field officer” responsible for intelligence, ordered the assassination of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
Wray underscored that both agencies have a lot in common and the similarities are far greater than the differences.
“On the nexus between terror actors and organised crime syndicates, Wray said that a blending of lines between terrorists and criminals was now visible in the cyberspace as well,” NIA added.