US charges Indian man in alleged plot to kill Khalistani terrorist Pannun
The US Justice Department has charged a 52-year-old Indian national Nikhil Gupta with involvement in an alleged murder plot against Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
This development comes a week after a Financial Times report alleged that the US had foiled a plot to kill Pannun and then “issued a warning” to India over concerns that New Delhi was “involved in the plot” to eliminate Pannun.
A press release by the US Justice Department, quoting court documents, said that earlier this year, “an Indian government employee, working together with others, including Gupta, in India and elsewhere, directed a plot to assassinate on US soil an attorney and political activist who is a US citizen of Indian-origin residing in New York City”.
The US officials added, the Indian government agency employee has variously described himself as a “Senior Field Officer” with responsibilities in “Security Management” and “Intelligence”.
If convicted, Gupta could face up to 20 years in prison for each count of murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Matthew G Olsen.
According to US officials, Gupta had agreed to pay $100,000 to an assassin to carry out the killing, with an advance payment of $15,000 already made on June 9, 2023.
However, the individual he contacted for the hitman turned out to be a confidential source working with US law enforcement.
“As alleged, the defendant conspired from India to assassinate, right here in New York City, a US citizen of Indian origin who has publicly advocated for the establishment of a sovereign state for Sikhs, an ethnoreligious minority group in India,” United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said in a statement.
Gupta was apprehended by Czech authorities on June 30, 2023, under a bilateral extradition treaty with the United States. The timing of his extradition to face charges in the US remains uncertain.
Earlier today, India said that it has constituted a high-level enquiry committee to probe allegations relating to a conspiracy to kill the Sikh extremist on American soil.
On Wednesday, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said the US side shared some “inputs” pertaining to nexus between organised criminals, gun runners and terrorists and that India takes such inputs seriously since they impinge on “our national security interests as well” and that relevant departments were examining the issue.
India constituted a high-level enquiry committee on November 18 to look into all the relevant aspects of the matter, he said.