US Court allows Gurpatwant Pannun to serve lawsuit on Ajit Doval, former RAW Chief through Delhi Courts
Babushahi Network
New Delhi, November 10, 2026: A US federal court has allowed Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun to pursue the service of legal summons on National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and former Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) chief Samant Goel through courts in Delhi in connection with his civil lawsuit alleging a conspiracy to assassinate him in New York in 2023.
In an order dated November 9, US District Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the Southern District of New York granted Pannun’s request to have the legal documents transmitted to Indian courts for service on the two officials.
The court has directed Pannun to submit a proposed set of documents by November 30, 2026. The submission must include copies of the summons, a proposed order explaining the method of service, relevant provisions of Indian law and records of earlier attempts to deliver the documents through the Hague Convention procedure.
Once the proposed documents are examined and approved, the court’s clerk will transmit them to the Indian courts identified in the request.
According to the court proceedings, Pannun has identified three possible locations for receiving the summons: Patiala House Courts, Dwarka Courts and Tis Hazari Courts in Delhi.
The court accepted the argument that Article 19 of the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents permits the use of procedures available under the domestic laws of a country for serving foreign judicial documents.
The ruling follows earlier unsuccessful attempts by Pannun’s legal team to serve the documents on Doval and Goel through other channels.
In a separate development, the US State Department has confirmed that it transmitted the summons and complaint concerning the Government of India to the Indian Embassy in Washington on October 9 through diplomatic channels.
The department informed the court that the transmission was carried out under Section 1608(a)(4) of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. It clarified that facilitating the delivery of the documents did not indicate support for Pannun’s allegations or any position on the merits of the lawsuit.
What is the Pannun lawsuit about?
Pannun filed the civil lawsuit in September 2024, naming the Government of India, Ajit Doval, Samant Goel, former R&AW officer Vikash Yadav, Nikhil Gupta and other unidentified individuals as defendants.
He has alleged that Indian officials were involved in a conspiracy to assassinate him in New York in 2023. These allegations have not been established in the civil proceedings, and India has rejected claims of involvement by its officials.
The lawsuit is separate from the criminal prosecution of Nikhil Gupta in the United States. Gupta pleaded guilty in February 2026 to charges including conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with the alleged plot.
The latest US court order is limited to the procedure for serving legal documents on Doval and Goel. It does not constitute a finding on the allegations against them or the Indian government.