US federal prosecutors have accused an Indian government official of orchestrating a plot to kill a Sikh activist in New York City, complicating the Biden administration’s efforts to boost ties with India to help counter China.

The allegations were contained in an indictment unsealed on Wednesday in which the US justice department charged another Indian citizen with working with the official to carry out a “murder-for-hire” plot. The Indian official was not named or charged in the indictment.

Although federal prosecutors did not name the target of the alleged plot, the Financial Times has confirmed it was Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual US-Canadian citizen who is general counsel for Sikhs for Justice, a US-based group that is part of a separatist movement pushing for the creation of an independent Sikh state in India called “Khalistan”.