The United States Attorney's Office, on Wednesday, 29 November, announced the filing of murder-for-hire charges against 52-year-old Indian national Nikhil Gupta in connection with a foiled plot to assassinate Khalistani leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
Last week, the Financial Times had reported that US authorities foiled a conspiracy to assassinate designated terrorist and Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) founder Pannun on US soil.
US Attorney Damian Williams said:
“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."
A press release from the US Attorney's office said that Czech authorities had arrested and detained Gupta on 30 June 2023.
The release said that an alleged Indian government employee, working with other individuals, including Gupta, in India and elsewhere, directed the plot to assassinate the SFJ founder.
An administrator of the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Anne Milgram, said that the DEA stopped the plot at a time when "a foreign government employee allegedly committed the brazen act of recruiting an international narcotics trafficker to murder" Pannun, a US citizen.
The Plot
The US Attorney's Office said that Gupta is an Indian national who lives in India, was involved in "international narcotics and weapons trafficking," and was associated with the Indian government employee in question.
It added that the government official in question described himself as a "Senior Field Officer" with responsibilities in "Security Management" and "Intelligence," and also referenced previously serving in India's Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
According to the release, the Indian government employee allegedly directed the assassination plot from India.
Authorities said that around May, the alleged Indian government employee recruited Gupta "to orchestrate the assassination" of Pannun in the US.
They further said that at the government employee's direction, Gupta contacted an individual, whom he believed to be a criminal associate but "was in fact a confidential source working with the DEA," to help hire a hitman to murder Pannun in New York City.
The source "introduced Gupta to a purported hitman, who was in fact a DEA undercover officer", and the government employee "subsequently agreed in dealings brokered by Gupta to pay the [undercover officer] $100,000 to murder" Pannun, according to the US Attorney Office's release.
"On or about June 9, 2023, [Indian government employee] and Gupta arranged for an associate to deliver $15,000 in cash to the [undercover officer] as an advance payment for the murder."
Sometime in June, the Indian government employee allegedly provided "personal information" about Pannun to Nikhil Gupta, including his "home address in New York City, phone numbers... and details about the [Pannu's] day-to-day conduct."
The information was further passed on to the man Gupta thought was a hitman but turned out to be an undercover DEA agent, according to the release.
The Conspiracy
The Indian government employee repeatedly directed Gupta to "provide regular updates on the progress of the assassination," which he did by surveilling Pannun.
"Gupta directed the [undercover officer] to carry out the murder as soon as possible, but Gupta also specifically instructed the [undercover officer] not to commit the murder around the time of anticipated engagements scheduled to occur in the ensuing weeks between high-level US and Indian government officials."
The release further said that the day after Khalistan Tiger Force chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was an associate of Pannun's, was murdered in Canada, Gupta told the undercover officer that Nijjar “was also the target” and added that “we have so many targets.”
Gupta allegedly also said that in light of Nijjar’s murder, there was “now no need to wait” to kill Pannun.
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