Indian national Nikhil Gupta, implicated in an alleged plot to assassinate Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, has been extradited from the Czech Republic to the United States, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons website.
Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic last year in June at the request of the US government on charges of being involved in a plot to assassinate Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
He is expected to be produced before a federal court in New York on Monday. An inmate search by name on the Bureau of Prisons website showed on Sunday that Gupta, 52, is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn, a federal administrative detention facility.
The Washington Post, which broke the news of Gupta’s extradition, reported that he arrived in New York over the weekend after being detained in the Czech Republic. The report said that extradited defendants usually have to appear in court within one day of their arrival in the country. Gupta reportedly traveled to Prague from India last June and was arrested by Czech authorities.
Last month, a Czech court rejected his petition to avoid being sent to the US, clearing the way for the Czech justice minister to extradite him. US federal prosecutors allege that Gupta hired a hitman to kill Pannun and paid USD 15,000 in advance. They allege that an unnamed Indian government official was involved in it. India has denied its involvement in such a case and has instituted an investigation into the allegations. Gupta through his attorney has denied the charges and has said that he has been “unfairly charged”.
“Gupta’s attorney, Rohini Musa, wrote in a petition to the Indian Supreme Court that her client is being unfairly prosecuted, saying there is “nothing on record to link the Petitioner to the massive alleged plot to assassinate the alleged victim,” The Washington Post said. “Musa complained that Gupta received adverse legal advice from a Czech government-appointed attorney “under the undue influence of … U.S. Agencies” during the initial phase of his detention,” the newspaper reported.
Last September, Canada said its intelligence agencies were pursuing allegations linking India’s government to the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023 in Canada. A month later, in November, US authorities said an Indian government official had directed the plot in the attempted murder of Pannun. In the wake of these allegations, India set up a high-level inquiry committee in New Delhi to investigate inputs provided by the US.
(With agency inputs)
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