U.S. court rejects Khalistani separatist Pannun’s claim that complaint served on NSA Doval during Washington visit

In the first instance, attempt was made on February 12 to deliver the complaint to Ajit Doval at Blair House, the President’s Guest House where PM Modi and his delegation were staying during the DC visit. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

A U.S. court has said that no complaint was delivered to National Security Advisor Ajit Doval during his visit to Washington in February, dismissing a claim by Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun that court documents, including a summons, had been served on the top Indian official.

“The Court has reviewed the above letter and attached exhibits… and finds that service was not completed. The Complaint was not delivered to a member of the hotel management or staff or any officers or agents providing security for Defendant, as required by the Court’s Order,” U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla said in the recent order.

Mr. Pannun has filed a civil lawsuit against Mr. Doval and another Indian national, Nikhil Gupta. Mr. Gupta has been accused by federal prosecutors of working with an Indian Ggovernment employee in a foiled plot to kill Mr. Pannun on American soil.

Mr. Pannun claimed in court papers that when Mr. Doval was in Washington, accompanying Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the visit to meet U.S. President Donald Trump on February 12-13, he had “hired two process servers and one investigator” to serve the complaint on the National Security Advisor (NSA).

In the first instance, an attempt was made on February 12 to deliver the complaint to Mr. Doval at Blair House, the President’s Guest House where PM Modi and his delegation were staying during the DC visit.

Mr. Pannun said in court papers that there was significant security at Blair House, and it was barricaded, with the sole checkpoint guarded by Secret Service agents. The individual tasked with serving the complaint approached one of the agents and explained that he was there to serve legal documents on Mr. Doval and “that he had a Court Order permitting service of the documents on any member of the Secret Service providing security” during the NSA’s stay.

“He showed the Secret Service agent a copy of this Court’s Order, but the agent refused to accept any documents and told the individual to leave the checkpoint,” Mr. Pannun said in court papers.

Mr. Pannun said the individual he had hired to deliver the complaint “feared that if he took any further action he would be arrested”.

The next day, on February 13, another individual attempted to serve the documents on Mr. Doval at Blair House but “three Secret Service agents”, including a Sergeant, stopped him “at the checkpoint outside Blair House, refused to allow him beyond the checkpoint, and refused to accept any documents”.

The individual told the agents that he would place the envelope containing the service documents on the ground in front of them but one of the agents told him that “if he left the documents on the ground, agents would arrest him”.

The individual then left the documents at a coffee store near Blair House and told the Secret Service agents to retrieve them and give them to Mr. Doval. In court papers, Mr. Pannun claims that he has completed the process of serving the complaint on Mr. Doval, which the court rejected.