![\"\"](\"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2026\/02\/gurupanat.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Islamabad: A report by the New York Times has revealed that an Indian national has pleaded guilty in a United States federal court to orchestrating a failed assassination attempt against a Sikh activist in New York, shedding further light on a broader pattern of transnational repression targeting Sikh dissidents.<\/p>\n
According to Kashmir Media Service, the intended target was Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a U.S. citizen and a prominent advocate for Sikh self-determination in Punjab. Pannun is associated with Sikhs for Justice, a New York\u2013based organization campaigning internationally on the Sikh right to self-determination.<\/p>\n
Nikhil Gupta admitted to arranging the plot to murder Pannum at the behest of an alleged official linked to the Indian government\u2014an allegation New Delhi has denied, the report said.<\/p>\n
Gupta, who entered his plea to murder for hire and other charges in federal court in Manhattan, is scheduled to be sentenced on May 29. He could face up to 40 years in prison under U.S. federal sentencing guidelines.<\/p>\n
The indictment against Gupta, the report said, outlined a brazen scheme in which he was recruited in May 2023 by an Indian government official, Vikash Yadav, to arrange the killing of Pannun.<\/p>\n
US prosecutors have argued that the case mirrors similar covert operations allegedly directed against Sikh activists abroad, including the killing of a Sikh figure in Canada, intensifying concerns over India\u2019s alleged use of extraterritorial violence to silence political dissent. Notably, in June 2023, Khalistan movement leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Canada. Ottawa has said that the killing was carried out at the behest of the Indian government and says it has shared credible evidence with New Delhi in this regard.<\/p>\n
Officials in the United States and Canada have said that the Indian government has engaged in a global campaign to silence Sikh activists, creating diplomatic tensions.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur message to all nefarious foreign actors should be clear: Steer clear of the United States and our people,\u201d Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors say Gupta was involved in the plot in June 2023, as President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was preparing to host Indian PM Modi for a state dinner at the White House. Biden did not know at the time of the dinner that, according to prosecutors, an Indian official had just approved the assassination plot on US soil. Gupta was arrested and detained in the Czech Republic days after the state dinner, and was brought to the United States in 2024 to face prosecution.<\/p>\n
Gupta had been charged with murder-for-hire and two counts of conspiracy. His guilty plea, observers say, represents a significant development in uncovering alleged state-linked operations beyond India\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n
In Gupta\u2019s case, prosecutors have said that Yadav worked for India\u2019s Cabinet Secretariat, which houses the country\u2019s foreign intelligence service and is a part of the prime minister\u2019s office, when he hired Gupta. Yadav has also been indicted in federal court in Manhattan on charges of murder for hire and two conspiracy counts. Prosecutors have said he remains at large.<\/p>\n
Gupta, speaking in court briefly, told Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn that in spring 2023, he had agreed with another individual \u201cto murder a person in the United States.\u201d He also said he had paid another person $15,000 as part of the plot.<\/p>\n
The case has reignited debate over the safety of political activists living in exile and the growing trend of cross-border intimidation and targeted violence, raising serious questions about accountability and the rule of law at the international level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad: A report by the New York Times has revealed that an Indian national has pleaded guilty in a United States federal court to orchestrating a failed assassination attempt against a Sikh activist in New York, shedding further light on a broader pattern of transnational repression targeting Sikh dissidents. According to Kashmir Media Service, the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":194886,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-194885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india","tag-top-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2026\/02\/gurupanat.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194885"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":194891,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194885\/revisions\/194891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}