Pannun, identified as a Sikh activist, told media outlets that the FBI had notified him of an active threat against his life. Federal agents visited his New York City residence that Thursday to deliver word of the threat in person, according to what he later told a news outlet.

The remarks were made public in the days leading up to a vote on October 18 in Edmonton, Canada — a consultative exercise on the question of Khalistan. Those casting ballots in the referendum — organised by Sikhs for Justice — will be asked to decide whether Punjab, currently an Indian state, should be established as an independent country under the name "Khalistan."

Those who seek to establish an independent Sikh homeland out of the Punjab region of India — a proposed nation they call Khalistan, a word drawn from Persian roots meaning roughly "land of the pure" — have pursued that goal for generations.

Holding dual citizenship in the United States and Canada, Pannun — who serves as general counsel for SFJ — has outlined plans to cross the border from the US side in order to take part in the referendum. According to his account, the FBI delivered a "Duty to Warn" notice on October 15, with the alert tied specifically to travel he had planned to Canada.

Pannun has also said he received alerts from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police about threats directed at him and his Ontario home, while a television outlet reported that FBI agents told him they are looking into leads tying the threat to a possible trip to Canada for the referendum, though no additional details were passed along to him.

A guilty plea entered before a US federal court tied an Indian national to an alleged plot targeting Pannun in New York, with proceedings concluding that February. Nikhil Gupta, 54, entered guilty pleas on three counts — murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and conspiracy to commit money laundering — all tied to the thwarted plot, according to prosecutors.

Court papers filed by the Justice Department name Vikash Yadav — a staff member within India's Cabinet Secretariat, the body that holds authority over the foreign intelligence service known as RAW — as the government operative whose instructions Gupta allegedly followed. The department's account places Yadav as the one who contacted Gupta in May 2023, enlisting him in a scheme targeting Pannun's life.

The individual Gupta reached out to turned out to be working alongside US law enforcement, despite Gupta's assumption that the contact was a criminal associate. A go-between arranged a meeting between him and a law enforcement officer working in an undercover capacity, presenting as a contract killer.

According to the prosecution, those involved had settled on a fee of $100,000 for the killing, with roughly $15,000 handed over before the act took place. Officers stepped in and brought the situation under control before any confrontation took hold.

According to the organisation, other groups arranging referendums across Canada have also received similar notices over the past several months.

The killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh activist, took place in Surrey, British Columbia, in June 2023, an event that sent diplomatic ties between Canada and India into a period of notable strain. Investigators in Canada have been pursuing allegations tied to the killing, a matter India contests, with officials there maintaining the country played no part in violence directed at Sikh activists outside its borders.

Pannun has relayed fresh alerts about personal safety risks at a time when talks between Mark Carney and Narendra Modi are advancing toward a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement alongside expanded cooperation on security and law enforcement matters. A resumption of diplomatic contact between the two countries comes after a period of strain tied to accusations that India played a role in threatening Sikh separatist figures operating in Canada and the United States.

Pannun raised doubts about the compatibility of deepening Canada–India economic and security ties with the government's handling of reported threats directed at people organising Khalistan referendum events, asking how the two positions could be held simultaneously while such threats persisted on Canadian territory.