Central Administrative Tribunal Last Year Confirmed Vikash Yadav’s Probation with Cabinet Secretariat, Documents with News18 Show – News18

The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) last year confirmed Vikash Yadav’s probation with the Directorate General of Security in the Cabinet Secretariat, a fact which confirms the US indictment claim that Yadav was employed last with the Cabinet Secretariat, News18 has learnt.

Yadav is wanted by the FBI for a foiled assassination plot of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Khalistani separatist based in the United States who is sought by Indian law enforcement authorities.

News18 has accessed a CAT order dated November 29, 2023. Yadav had approached CAT for confirmation of his probation with the Cabinet Secretariat, the document reveals.

The CAT judgement cited an Office Order No. 255/2023 dated 09.10.2023 passed by Deputy Secretary (Pers. D), Aviation Research Centre, Directorate General of Security (Cabinet Secretariat).

“The said order conveys approval of the Government to successful completion of probation and confirmation in the post of SFO (GD) in Executive Cadre of DG (S) in respect of the applicant with effect from 13.11.2015. Learned counsel for the applicant (Vikash Yadav) submits that in the light of the Office Order dated 09.10.2023, the grievances of the applicant stand redressed and, therefore, the present OA has become infructuous,” the CAT judgement said.

The document reveals that Vikash Yadav had then lived in a government accommodation in Andrews Ganj Extension in Delhi and that his father’s name is Ram Singh Yadav. The Indian government has said Vikash is no longer employed with it.

News18 earlier reported on Saturday that the Delhi Police Anti-Terror Wing Special Cell arrested Yadav last year in an extortion case. The police have also filed a charge sheet against him, and Yadav, after spending a few months in Tihar Jail, is now out as the matter is pending in court.

Importantly, the investigation revealed that Yadav met the complainant, Raj Kumar Walia, as an undercover agent. The FIR says that he was posing as a government official working for the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Yadav met Walia outside the NIA office before kidnapping him and extorting money.

Police officials learnt about Vikash Yadav’s status as a wanted person through news reports. Sources indicated that Yadav had met Walia through a common friend at a party last year.

What the FIR says

According to the FIR, Vikash Yadav met the complainant, Raj Kumar Walia, who lives in Rohini and runs a café and lounge in west Delhi’s Moti Nagar locality. In fact, a charge sheet has also been filed in the case. Yadav, along with his associate identified as Abdallah, told Walia that there was a serious threat to him and asked him to meet near the NIA office in Delhi on December 11 last year.

“The complainant, along with his friend Abhijit, went to meet Vikash Yadav, who was present with the accused Abdullah. Thereafter, the accused Abdullah pushed him into the car. The accused persons tortured and manhandled the complainant and demanded money in the name of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi,” a court order quoted in the FIR states. “The accused persons beat him, administered injections, and hit him on the back of his neck. They also took a bank chequebook from the complainant’s café and obtained his signature on blank cheques, later dropping him near his car while threatening him to remain silent.”

The FIR noted that after returning, Walia discovered that the accused had also taken away Rs 50,000 kept in his café and deleted all CCTV recordings.

In his disclosure to the police, Yadav stated that his father worked with the Border Security Force and died in 2007 and that he got married in 2015.

What the FBI says about Vikash

The US indictment states that Yadav also goes by the aliases ‘Vikas’ and ‘Amanat’. He is a citizen and resident of India. At the times relevant to this indictment, he was employed by the Cabinet Secretariat of the Government of India, which houses India’s foreign intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). Yadav described his position as a ‘senior field officer’ with responsibilities in ‘security management’ and ‘intelligence’ and listed his employer’s address as the CGO Complex in New Delhi, where RAW is headquartered.

It also states that Yadav served in India’s Central Reserve Police Force, the country’s largest paramilitary force. “He described his position there as an ‘assistant commandant’ with command over a 135-member company. Yadav reported receiving counterintelligence, battle craft, weapons, and paratrooper training,” the US indictment noted.