Sikh separatist says FBI warned him of new threat against him

Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who was the target of a foiled 2023 assassination plot allegedly directed by an ex-Indian intelligence official, is facing new threats to his life that are being investigated by the FBI, Pannun told CBS News on Thursday.Pannun, a vocal critic of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said that FBI agents paid a visit to his New York City home earlier in the day to warn him about what he called an "imminent threat to my life."On Oct. 18, his organization, Sikhs for Justice, plans to hold a non-binding referendum in Edmonton, Canada, on whether the northern Indian province of Punjab should be declared independent and re-named "Khalistan." Sikhs have been invited to vote on the measure.Pannun said in a statement that the question is not whether he "survives another assassination plot." Instead, it's whether the right of Sikh people to self-determination "can be stopped through assassination threats."It cannot," he said.FBI agents told Pannun they are investigating leads and said the threat is connected to potential travel to Canada to participate in the referendum but did not provide him with any further information.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Federal prosecutors in Manhattan previously charged Indian national Nikhil Gupta and former Indian intelligence officer Vikash Yadav with plotting to assassinate Pannun, a