An Indian nationwide accused of serving to plot to kill a U.S. citizen in New York Metropolis has been extradited to the U.S. to face trial.
A U.S. District Court docket spokesman mentioned Nikhil Gupta is scheduled to seem Monday within the decrease Manhattan courthouse on federal murder-for-hire costs.
The Justice Division alleges that Gupta, 52, is an affiliate of an Indian authorities “senior subject officer” and that collectively they and others helped plot the assassination of a Sikh separatist and critic of the Indian authorities in New York Metropolis.
That critic has been recognized as Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, whom Indian officers have labeled a terrorist, in accordance with The Related Press.
Pannun — believed to be the goal of the alleged plot — advocates for an impartial Punjab area for India’s Sikh inhabitants, officers mentioned.
In November, Justice Division officers introduced costs in opposition to Gupta after he was arrested in June within the Czech Republic. They mentioned he would face extradition to New York.
Prosecutors mentioned that Gupta has claimed to be a drug and weapons trafficker who thought he was contacting a hitman however that it turned out he was talking with a supply for the Drug Enforcement Administration. The supply linked Gupta with a purported hitman who was really an undercover DEA officer, in accordance with an indictment.
DEA and FBI officers have mentioned Gupta supplied to pay $100,000 for the homicide and offered surveillance images of the alleged goal in June 2023.
Round that point in Canada, on June 18, gunmen shot and killed one other Sikh separatist chief, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, exterior a Sikh temple in British Columbia.
Investigators mentioned that after the killing, Gupta boasted to the undercover officer that Nijjar “was additionally the goal” and “we’ve so many targets” and that he mentioned he needed the operation in New York to proceed quickly.
India’s overseas ministry has referred to as allegations the Indian authorities was concerned in plotting assassinations in Canada or the U.S. “absurd.”
FBI and DEA spokespeople declined to touch upon the extradition. A spokesperson for the U.S. legal professional additionally declined to remark.
Gupta was charged with murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, each of which carry most sentences of 10 years in jail if he’s convicted.
This text first appeared on NBCNews.com. Learn extra from NBC Information right here:
