NEW DELHI: The counsel of former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) officer Vikash Yadav on Saturday termed the charges brought against his client by the US law enforcement agencies as bogus and part of an international ploy to defame India. “He (Vikash Yadav) is being deliberately framed. It appears that all this is an international plot to defame India and the country’s top intelligence agencies,” advocate RK Handoo told this newspaper.Yadav, a former government officer, was indicted by the US authorities for his alleged role in a foiled murder-for-hire plot against Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on US soil. In a completely unrelated case of extortion, Yadav was arrested by the Delhi Police in December last year and lodged in Tihar Jail for four months till he got regular bail. The extortion-cum-kidnapping case was registered by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police on the complaint of a businessman in Delhi’s Rohini. The FIR said Yadav demanded money in the name of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, forced the victim to sign a blank cheque, took Rs 50,000 from his cafe and deleted all CCTV recordings there. As for the US indictment, advocate Handoo denied all allegations and said that if anyone reads the charges from a proper perspective, they would understand that all of them are fallacious. “As I understand being his lawyer, Vikash is a decent, well-read, and well-cultured man. I cannot fathom that he can be involved in any such activity,” Handoo said.
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