US authorities take custody of Indian suspected of plotting murder of Sikh leader
Islamabad: Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national suspected of conspiring to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a prominent Sikh leader, has been extradited to the United States.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Nikhil Gupta travelled to Prague from India last June and was arrested by Czech authorities. He was transported to the US after a Czech court approved his extradition. He is currently being held at a federal detention facility in Brooklyn.
Reuters had reported on the extradition earlier on June 17, citing the US’s federal Bureau of Prisons website and a source familiar with the matter.
Gupta has been accused by US federal prosecutors of plotting with an Indian government official to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US resident who advocated for a sovereign Sikh state in northern India.
The discovery of assassination plots against Sikh leaders and activists in the US and Canada has tested relations with India. Canada said in September its intelligence agencies were pursuing allegations linking India’s government to the murder of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023 in Canada. In November, US authorities said an Indian government official had directed the plot in the attempted murder of Pannun, who is a US and Canadian citizen. Gupta is accused of involvement in that plot.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in a media interview said that while the extradition was a welcome step, “Nikhil Gupta is just a foot soldier.” He added that those who hired Gupta were senior members of the Indian government who acted on the direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Gupta’s extradition marks a significant development in the case, which has strained relations between India and the US. The US has been pressing India to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the alleged plot.
