It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Thursday, November 30, 2023
UPDATED
India 'intelligence' official plotted to kill Sikh activist on US soil
US says "Indian government agency employee" ordered Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta — nabbed in Czech Republic — to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York just around same time when another Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar was assassinated in Canada.
AFP
A member of radical United Hindu Front organisation holds a banner depicting Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who has been deemed as "terrorist" by Indian right-wing government.
/ Photo: AFP
An Indian government official has directed a $100,000 plot to assassinate a prominent Sikh separatist leader in New York City after the man advocated to establish a sovereign state for Sikhs, US authorities said as charges against a man from India who they say was part of the murder plot were unsealed.
Last spring, US officials became aware of the plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who is considered a terrorist by the Indian government.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration [DEA] stopped the plot when the foreign government employee recruited an international narcotics trafficker to commit the murder, DEA administrator Anne Milgram said on Wednesday.
The government official was only described as "CC-1" in an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court that charged Nikhil Gupta, 52, an Indian national who had lived in India, with murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire.
US Attorney Damian Williams and other federal officials announced the charges in a release.
"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," he said.
Czech authorities arrested and detained Gupta on June 30 in the Czech Republic through a bilateral extradition treaty between the US and the Czech Republic, according to the release.
It was not immediately clear when he might be brought to the United States.
The plot was directed by an Indian government agency employee who has described himself as a "senior field officer" with responsibilities in "security management" and "intelligence" and also claims to have served in India's Central Reserve Police Force [or CRPF] and been trained in "battle craft" and "weapons," the indictment said.
CRPF, is one of world's largest paramilitary forces, and India has deployed the force to quell pro-freedom struggle in disputed Kashmir, unrest in central and northeastern India.
Pannun was only identified in court papers as the "Victim."
The Indian government employee recruited Gupta last May to orchestrate the assassination, the indictment said
Sensitive matter
The case is particularly sensitive given the high priority the administration of President Joe Biden has placed on improving ties with India and courting it to be a major partner in the push to counter China’s increasing assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific and beyond.
The White House declined to comment directly on the charges against Gupta, but said administration officials acted quickly.
"When we were made aware of the fact that the defendant, in this case, had credibly indicated that he was directed to arrange the murder by an individual who is assessed to be an employee of the Indian Government, we took this information very seriously and engaged in direct conversations with the Indian government at the highest levels to express our concern," White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
The White House first became aware of the plot in late July, according to a senior administration official.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive exchanges with the Indian government, said White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with his Indian counterpart, Ajit Doval, and underscored that India needed to investigate and hold those responsible accountable.
Sullivan also made clear that the US needed assurance that this would not happen again and warned that another episode could permanently damage the trust established between our two countries, the official said.
Biden then asked CIA Director William Burns to contact his counterpart and travel to India to make it clear that the United States would not tolerate such activities and that his administration expected accountability.
Biden also raised the matter directly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi when they met at the Group of 20 Summit in September in New Delhi.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Sullivan raised the issue with Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar when he visited Washington in September around the time of the annual UN General Assembly.
Camouflage
The indictment said Gupta contacted an individual he believed to be a criminal associate to help find a hitman to carry out the killing, but the individual happened to be a confidential source working with the DEA.
The confidential source then introduced Gupta to a purported hitman, who was actually a DEA agent, the indictment said.
In June, the Indian government employee gave Gupta the home address of Pannun, his phone numbers and details about his daily conduct, including surveillance photographs, which Gupta then passed along to the undercover DEA agent, the indictment said.
It said Gupta directed the undercover agent to carry out the murder as soon as possible, but also warned the agent not to commit the killing around the time of anticipated engagements between high-level US and Indian officials.
India had set up a high-level inquiry after US authorities raised concerns with New Delhi that its government may have had knowledge of a plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader on American soil, an Indian official said on Wednesday.
The US side shared some information, and India "takes such inputs seriously since they impinge on our national security interests as well, and relevant departments were already examining the issue," a statement by External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
In September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were credible allegations that the Indian government agents may have had links to the assassination in that country of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
India rejected the accusation as absurd, but Canada expelled a top Indian diplomat, and India responded with the same measure.
According to the New York indictment unsealed on Wednesday, Gupta told the undercover DEA agent the day after Nijjar's murder that Nijjar "was also the target" and "we have so many targets", and he added that in light of Nijjar's murder, there was "now no need to wait" in carrying out the New York assassination.
Two days after Nijjar was killed, the Indian government official behind the New York assassination plot sent Gupta a news article about the New York assassination target and messaged Gupta that " (i)t's (a) priority now," the indictment said.
India begins probe into US claim of plot to kill Sikh separatist leader
US authorities have said they have disrupted a plot to kill Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who India considers a terrorist, on American soil.
AP ARCHIVE
The US govt said it had raised the issue with New Delhi but declined to comment on when or how US officials became aware of the plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. / Photo: AP Archive
India has set up a high-level inquiry after US authorities raised concerns with New Delhi that its government may have had knowledge of a plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader on American soil, an Indian official said.
The US side shared some information and India "takes such inputs seriously since they impinge on our national security interests as well, and relevant departments were already examining the issue,” a statement by External Affairs Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said.
The US government said it had raised the issue with New Delhi but declined to comment on when or how US officials became aware of the plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who is considered a terrorist by the Indian government, as well as how the alleged assassination attempt was derailed.
In September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were credible allegations that the Indian government may have had links to the assassination in that country of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India rejected the accusation as absurd, but Canada expelled a top Indian diplomat and India responded with the same measure.
Pannun has been a leading organizer of the so-called Khalistan referendum, inviting Sikhs worldwide to vote on whether India's Punjab state should become an independent nation based on religion. Organizers of the nonbinding referendum hope to present the results to the UN General Assembly in about two years.
Pannun, general counsel with Sikhs for Justice, has been listed as a terrorist by the Indian government. The organization was banned by India in 2019.
Bagchi said that the Indian government formed a high-level inquiry committee on Nov. 18 to look into all the aspects of the matter.
SOURCE: AP
India needs to take Canada's allegations seriously, Justin Trudeau says after US case
The US Justice Department said that a 52-year-old man worked with an Indian govt employee, whose responsibilities included security and intelligence, on the plot to assassinate a New York City resident who advocated for a Sikh sovereign state in northern India
Reuters Ottawa Published 30.11.23
US allegations that an Indian government official directed an unsuccessful plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist on US soil underscores the need for India to take similar allegations by Canada seriously, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday.
The US Justice Department said earlier on Wednesday that a 52-year-old man worked with an Indian government employee, whose responsibilities included security and intelligence, on the plot to assassinate a New York City resident who advocated for a Sikh sovereign state in northern India.
"The news coming out of the United States further underscores what we've been talking about from the very beginning, which is that India needs to take this seriously," Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa.
The US charges come about two months after Canada said there were "credible" allegations linking Indian agents to the murder of a Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in a Vancouver suburb, in June. India has rejected that allegation
Alleged New York plot to kill Sikh separatist 'will not harm India-US relations'
Security official Nikhil Gupta sought to assassinate a US citizen who advocated for a Sikh sovereign state, according to prosecutors
US authorities allege an Indian government official directed a plot to attempt to assassinate Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York. AP
Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta, 52, a security and intelligence official, plotted to assassinate a New York resident who advocated for a Sikh sovereign state in northern India, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said.
US officials have named the alleged target as Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual citizen of the US and Canada, who is “of Indian origin”, Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, said.
Mr Gupta is awaiting extradition after his arrest by Czech authorities in June.
It comes two months after Canada said there were “credible” allegations linking Indian agents to the June murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in a Vancouver suburb. India has denied this.
Relations between Canada and India soured after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed there were “potential links” between India and the killing.
But the alleged US plot is not expected to have similar effects on Indian-US diplomacy, Ajai Sahni, executive director of the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management consultancy's South Asia Terrorism Portal, told The National.
“I don't think it is going to have any drastic impact on the relationship,” he said.
“I think this is all part of the dynamic that was unleashed by earlier controversy with Canada – our relationship with Canada has deteriorated rapidly. Nothing of significance has happened as far as America is concerned.
“This is only one among many issues that India and the US have between them but the mutual interest of two countries at this juncture is so deeply intertwined that the impact is going to be very negligible.”
Nikhil Gupta issue 'examined' by India
The Indian government has set up a high-level inquiry committee to look into the issue and will take action based on its finding, India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Shri Arindam Bagchi said.
“During the course of discussions with the US on bilateral security co-operation, the US side shared some inputs [on links between] organised criminals, gun-runners, terrorists and others,” said Mr Bagchi, without giving details.
“India takes such inputs seriously since they impinge on our national security interests as well, and relevant departments were already examining the issue.”
Mr Williams vowed that the US “will not tolerate efforts to assassinate US citizens on US soil”.
But the US has otherwise “not publicly raised an issue”, said Mr Sahni.
“It has been a different approach by the two countries,” he said.
“In Canada, unverified allegations were released directly by the Prime Minister in the parliament without any evidence provided, whereas as far as the Americans are concerned, there's been a quiet conversation perhaps on the analysis of a newspaper report.”
US linking Indian govt official to failed plot to murder Pannun a 'matter of concern': MEA
A high-level inquiry committee has been constituted to look into the matter
The MEA has called the US indictment linking an Indian government official to the failed plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun a "matter of concern'.
Adding that any such plot was against government policy, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said a high-level inquiry committee has been constituted to look into the matter. "The nexus between organised crime, trafficking, gunrunning and extremists at an international level is a serious issue for the law enforcement agencies and organisations to consider and it is for that reason that a high-level inquiry committee has been constituted and we will be guided by its results," Bagchi told reporters on Thursday.
The US indictment, which was unsealed on Wednesday, charged Nikhil Gupta, 52, with murder-for-hire charges and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire. The indictment further added that Gupta worked with an Indian government employee, whose responsibilities included security and intelligence.
The Indian official is described in the related indictment as a "Senior Field Officer" with responsibilities in "Security Management" and "Intelligence" employed by the Indian government who "directed the plot from India."
Bagchi added that the US had shared inputs during discussions on bilateral security cooperation. "We take such inputs very seriously and a high-level inquiry committee has been constituted to look into all the relevant aspects of the matter. Necessary follow-up action will be taken based on the findings of the inquiry committee," he added.
However, the MEA spokesperson hit out at Canada, stating the country has consistently given space to anti-India extremists, which is the heart of the issue. "Our diplomatic representatives in Canada have borne the brunt of this. So, we expect the Government of Canada to live up to its obligations under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. We have also seen interference by Canadian diplomats in our internal affairs and that is unacceptable," he said.
Just after the indictment, the foreign ministry said New Delhi would formally investigate the concerns aired by the United States.
India Accused of 'Transnational Terrorism' by Target of Alleged Plot in US
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the Sikh separatist leader who was the subject of an alleged assassination plot in the United States, accused India of "transnational terrorism" over the incident.
U.S. Federal prosecutors announced murder-for-hire charges on Wednesday against Indian national Nikhil Gupta, who is accused of plotting with an Indian government official to assassinate the U.S. citizen, who had called for a Sikh homeland to be carved out of India.
"The attempt on my life on American Soil is the blatant case of India's transnational terrorism, which has become a challenge to America's sovereignty and threat to freedom of speech and democracy, which unequivocally proves that India believes in using bullets while pro-Khalistan Sikhs believe in ballots," Pannun said in a statement to Newsweek.
Pannun has himself been charged with terrorism in India over his calls for a separate state for Sikhs, who number around 20 million in India, less than two percent of the population of the world's most populous country. He leads the group Sikhs for Justice.
Newsweek contacted Indian officials for a response to Pannun's comments
The Indian government has said it takes the U.S. accusations seriously and will set up an official inquiry to look into the matter.
Indian officials said the Biden administration had expressed concern over the alleged plot, which comes at a time the two countries are increasingly aligned over shared concerns about China. In September, relations between Canada and India were strained after the Canadians alleged Indian government involvement in the shooting of a Sikh separatist there – an accusation denied by New Delhi.
Khalistan flags fly as Sikhs for Justice hold a march and rally at the United Nations Headquarters on Indian Independence Day on August 15, 2019 in New York. An Indian man was charged on Wednesday over an alleged plot to k
Gupta, 52, was detained in the Czech Republic on June 30, 2023. The arrest resulted from a collaborative effort between U.S. and international law enforcement agencies.
Announcing the indictment on Wednesday, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams stated, "As alleged, the defendant conspired from India to assassinate, right here in New York City, a U.S. citizen of Indian origin who has publicly advocated for the establishment of a sovereign state for Sikhs, an ethnoreligious minority group in India."
Attempts by Newsweek to reach Gupta or his attorney for comments were unsuccessful. The Southern District of New York's U.S. Attorney's Office underscored the principle that Gupta is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court.
According to U.S. law enforcement, Gupta collaborated with an unnamed Indian official, attempting to recruit a criminal associate to hire a hitman. The name and location of this Indian official have not been disclosed.
However, Gupta inadvertently contacted an undercover U.S. law enforcement officer. This officer then facilitated Gupta's meeting with another agent, posing as a hitman. A deal was negotiated for the Indian government official to pay $100,000 for the assassination.
US alleges India inadvertently hired undercover American agent to kill Sikh separatist: 10 points
The US government claimed that an alleged Indian government employee assured Nikhil Gupta that a case against him in Gujarat had been ‘taken care of’.
The US attorney's office did not mention the name of the separatist leader who was the target of the plot, but a Financial Times report on November 23 had identified him as Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, chief of Sikhs for Justice, an organisation banned in India. | Gurpatwant Singh Pannun/Facebook
The United States government on Wednesday announced that it has pressed “murder-for-hire” charges against an Indian national for allegedly being involved in a thwarted plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader in New York.
The statement from the US government did not mention the name of the separatist leader, but a report in the Financial Times on November 23 had identified him as Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the chief of banned organisation, Sikhs for Justice.
Here are 10 major points from the indictment document:
Indian national Nikhil Gupta, accused of “murder for hire”,had been recruited by an alleged Indian government employee, who “directed a plot to assassinate on US soil, an attorney and political activist who is a US citizen of Indian origin residing in New York City”, the US government announced.
Gupta, 52, was arrested on June 30 by Czech authorities, the US government stated. The statement alleged that Gupta was an international narcotics and weapons trafficker. Meanwhile, the alleged Indian government employee, the charges say, is a “senior field officer” with responsibilities in “security management” and “intelligence”. The government employee has also previously served in the Central Reserve Police Force and having received “officer[’s] training” in “battle craft” and “weapons”, the US government said.
The alleged plot to kill Pannun was foiled after Gupta contacted an individual in the US, who he believed was a “criminal associate”, but was in fact a “confidential source” working with the US Drug Enforcement Agency. The drug official then put Gupta in touch with a purported hitman, who was actually an “undercover officer”, the statment said.
The government employee had asked Gupta to help in the murder plot “in exchange...[of] “securing the dismissal of a criminal case” against him. On May 12, in a phone conversation with Gupta, the government employee told him that the case against him “has already been taken care of” and that “nobody from Gujarat Police is calling”. On May 23, he again told Gupta that he had “spoke[n] with the boss...” about the case, that it was “all clear,” and “nobody will ever bother you again.” He also offered to arrange a meeting between Gupta and a deputy commissioner of police, the government statement claimed.
After Gupta negotiated a deal for the alleged murder plot, the government employee agreed to pay the undercover officer, posing as a hitman, $100,000 for the killing. On or about June 9, 2023, Gupta and the government employee “arranged for an associate to deliver $15,000 in cash” to the undercover officer “as an advance payment for the murder”.
The alleged government employee also provided personal information about the target, including his address in New York, phone number and day-to-day conduct to Gupta, which he in turn passed on to the undercover officer, the statement alleged. Gupta also asked the DEA agent, acting as a middleman between him and the purported hitman, to use a particular mobile phone app that records Global Positioning System, or GPS, coordinates and enables the user to take photographs.
On June 6, Gupta asked the DEA agent posing as middleman to “calm down everything [for] 10 days” as “high level government officials” of US and India were to meet “over the ensuing weeks”, the statement noted. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a US visit from June 21 to June 23. In his phone conversations, Gupta told the DEA agent that the public profile of the target could lead to “political things”.
However, after Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was murdered outside a gurudwara in Canada on June 18, Gupta allegedly told the US undercover agent that there was “now no need to wait”. Gupta also said that Nijjar “was also the target” and “we have so many targets”, the statement said. Moreover, immediately after the Nijjar murder, the Indian government official sent Gupta a video clip that showed Nijjar’s bloody body slumped in his vehicle.
The “murder for hire” charge against Gupta carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Another charge against him of “conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire” also carries the same maximum punishment.
Hours before the US government announced the charges, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said that it had constituted a high-level inquiry committee to examine inputs from the United States about the alleged plot. A statement from the ministry said: “Government of India will take necessary follow-up action based on the findings of the Enquiry Committee”.
Protest against killing of separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in front of the Indian Consulate in Toronto, Canada, on July 8. | AFP
Canada has urged India to cooperate in an investigation into the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Reuters reported on Thursday.
On September 18, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the country’s Parliament that intelligence agencies were actively pursuing “credible allegations” tying agents of the Indian government to Nijjar’s killing. He was killed by masked gunmen on June 18 near Vancouver.
Nijjar was a supporter of Khalistan, an independent Sikh nation sought by some groups. He was the head of the Khalistan Tiger Force, which is designated a terrorist outfit in India. India rejected Trudeau’s allegations as “absurd and motivated”. Later, Jaishankar said he had informed Canada that it was not New Delhi’s “policy” to engage in such acts.
Trudeau’s remarks for cooperation on Wednesday came hours after the US Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, filed “murder-for-hire charges” against an Indian national named Nikhil Gupta in connection with his alleged participation in a thwarted plot to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist leader in New York City.
“The news coming out of the United States further underscores what we’ve been talking about from the very beginning, which is that India needs to take this seriously,” Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa. “The Indian government needs to work with us to ensure that we’re getting to the bottom of this.”
Gupta had told a US undercover agent that Nijjar “was also the target,” according to the US Attorney’s Office.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly too sought more cooperation and more engagement from the Indian government on the matter.
Canada is yet to charge anyone in Nijjar’s murder, the Reuters report added.
‘Allow return of diplomats’
Meanwhile, Joly urged the Indian government on Thursday to allow the return of 41 diplomats that had left India in the wake of tensions between India and Canada, The Indian Express reported.
“It is my hope that the 41 diplomats, who should be working right now in India, are allowed back,” the report quoted her saying at a news conference in Brussels, the capital of Belgium.
On October 19, Joly had said that her government has withdrawn 41 of its 62 diplomats from India after the Modi government allegedly threatened to unilaterally revoke the diplomats’ official status.
Joly had said that Canada would not take the retaliatory step of asking India to withdraw its diplomats.
She had termed India’s demand “unreasonable and escalatory” and claimed that New Delhi revoking the diplomats’ official status violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the cornerstone of international relations and international law.
After the move, the number of Canadian diplomats in the country was reduced to 21.
Will follow results of inquiry panel on alleged plot to murder Khalistani separatist in US: Centre
The statement came a day after the US alleged that an Indian was recruited by an Indian government employee to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
The Centre on Thursday said that it will follow the findings of the high-level committee it has set up to look into the United States’ statement that an Indian national was allegedly involved in a foiled plot to assassinate a Khalistani separatist leader on American soil, reported ANI.
The remarks came a day after the US Attorney’s Office released a statement alleging that an Indian national named Nikhil Gupta had been recruited by an Indian government employee, who “directed a plot to assassinate on US soil an attorney and political activist who is a US citizen of Indian origin residing in New York City”.
Although the statement did not name the “attorney and political activist”, a report in the Financial Timeson November 23hadidentified him asGurpatwant Singh Pannun. The Financial Times had reported that the United States had foiled a plot to assassinate Pannun and issued a warning to India over concerns that the Modi government was involved in the conspiracy.
Pannun, the founder of a group called Sikhs for Justice, was declared an “individual terrorist” under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in 2020.
At a press briefing on Thursday, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that the United States had shared inputs about the thwarted plot that pertained to a “nexus between organised criminals, gunrunners, terrorists and other extremists”.
Bagchi described the alleged involvement of an Indian government employee in the foiled assassination attempt as a “matter of serious concern”.
“We have said that this is also contrary to government policy,” he said. “The nexus between organised crime, trafficking, gunrunning and extremists at an international level is a serious issue for the law enforcement agencies and organisations to consider and it is for that reason that a high-level inquiry committee has been constituted and we will be guided by its results.”
The United States statement had claimed that Gupta had been recruited by the alleged government employee to “orchestrate the assassination” in or around May. It alleged that the Indian government employee had “directed the assassination plot from India”. Gupta allegedly agreed to do so in exchange for help in “securing the dismissal of cases against” him in India.
In a deal negotiated by Gupta, the alleged Indian government employee agreed to pay the undercover officer $100,000 for the murder. On or about June 9, 2023, the alleged employee and Gupta “arranged for an associate to deliver $15,000 in cash” to the undercover officer “as an advance payment for the murder”.
The development comes two months after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that there were “credible” allegations linking Indian agents to the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar. He was shot dead in the parking lot of a gurdwara in Surrey near Vancouver on June 18.
According to the Financial Times, the US shared details of the thwarted plot to kill Pannun with a wider group of allies after Canada’s public accusation.
India Expresses Concern Over US Charges Against Indian National, Vows High-Level Probe
India has constituted a probe team to investigate allegations relating to the conspiracy to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh extremist and known to be an American and Canadian citizen.
India on Thursday described as a "matter of concern" the US charging an Indian national with conspiring to kill a Sikh separatist on American soil, and asserted that a high-level probe committee will investigate all aspects of the case.
India has constituted a probe team to investigate allegations relating to the conspiracy to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh extremist and known to be an American and Canadian citizen.
On Wednesday, US federal prosecutors charged Indian national Nikhil Gupta of involvement in the foiled plot to kill Pannun.
"As regards the case against an individual that has been filed in a US court allegedly linking him to an Indian official, this is a matter of concern," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
"We have said and let me reiterate that this is also contrary to government policy," he said at a media briefing.
Bagchi said the "nexus between organised crime, trafficking, gunrunning and extremists at an international level is a serious issue for law enforcement agencies and organisations to consider and it is precisely for that reason a high-level inquiry committee has been constituted and we will obviously be guided by its results."
The Financial Times, citing unnamed sources, last week reported that US authorities foiled a plot to assassinate Pannun, and issued a warning to the Indian government over concerns it was involved in the plot.
The Washington Post on Wednesday reported that the Biden administration was so concerned after discovering the plot to assassinate the Sikh separatist that it sent CIA Director William J Burns and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to India in August and October respectively to demand investigation and hold to account those responsible.
Indian national agreed to assassination plot after assurances criminal case against him in Gujarat will be dismissed: US federal prosecutors
Nikhil Gupta has been charged with murder-for-hire in connection with his participation in a foiled plot to assassinate a US citizen in New York City, according to a superseding indictment unsealed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York
PTI New York Published 30.11.23 Representational image.File
An Indian national, charged in connection with a plan to assassinate a Sikh separatist on American soil, agreed to the plot after being assured that a criminal case against him in Gujarat would be dismissed, federal prosecutors here have alleged.
Nikhil Gupta, 52, has been charged with murder-for-hire in connection with his participation in a foiled plot to assassinate a US citizen in New York City, according to a superseding indictment unsealed Wednesday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
While the indictment does not name the US citizen who was the target of the assassination plot, The Financial Times, citing unnamed sources, last week reported that US authorities thwarted a plot to assassinate banned Sikhs for Justice’s Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, and issued a warning to the Indian government over concerns it was involved in the plot.
In the indictment, prosecutors outline how Gupta agreed to the plot after being assured that a criminal case against him in Gujarat would be dismissed.
"Beginning in or about early May 2023, in a series of telephonic and electronic communications between CC-1 and Gupta over encrypted applications, CC-1 asked Gupta to arrange the murder of the Victim in exchange for CC-1's assistance in securing the dismissal of a criminal case against Gupta in India. Gupta agreed to orchestrate the assassination. In addition to their electronic communications, Gupta also met CC-1 in person in New Delhi in furtherance of the plot,” the indictment said.
Prosecutors have said that CC-1 is an “Indian government employee” who directed the plot from India to assassinate on US soil “an attorney and political activist who is a US citizen of Indian-origin residing in New York City," described as “the victim” in the indictment.
“On or about May 6, 2023, at the outset of their conversation over a particular encrypted messaging application, CC-1 wrote Gupta: "This is (CC-1)... Save my name as (CC- 1 Alias)." Gupta saved the telephone number on Gupta’s phone under an alias for CC-1. A few minutes later, CC-1 messaged Gupta that CC-1 had a "target in New York" and another target in “California”, the indictment said.
The indictment added that around "May 12, 2023, CC-1 notified Gupta that his criminal case "has already been taken care of," and that "nobody from Gujrat police is calling." On or about May 23, 2023, CC-1 again assured Gupta that CC-1 had "spoke[n] with the boss about your Gujarat (case)," that it was "all clear," and "nobody will ever bother you again." CC-1 further offered to arrange a meeting between Gupta and a "DCP," which is an acronym used in India for Deputy Commissioner of Police.” “Following CC-1 's assurances, GUPTA pressed forward to arrange the murder,” the indictment said.
The murder-for-hire charge against Gupta carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
The indictment said that at CC-1’s direction, Gupta contacted an individual whom he believed to be a criminal associate, but who was in fact a confidential source working with the DEA for assistance in contracting a hitman to murder the Victim in New York City.
The confidential source introduced Gupta to a purported hitman, who was in fact a DEA undercover officer.
CC-1 subsequently agreed in dealings brokered by Gupta to pay the undercover officer USD 100,000 to murder the Victim. Around June 9, 2023, CC-1 and Gupta arranged for an associate to deliver USD 15,000 in cash to the undercover officer as an advance payment for the murder. CC-1’s associate then delivered the $15,000 to the undercover officer in Manhattan.
Gupta, described as an “international narcotics trafficker” was arrested in the Czech Republic at the request of the United States in June 2023 in connection with his participation in the plot.
Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta charged with plot to kill Sikh separatist in New York Man accused of murder-for-hire over foiled plot to kill American citizen
The intended victim was an associate of a Sikh separatist who was murdered by masked gunmen outside a Sikh temple near Vancouver, Canada, in June. AP
The US Justice Department on Wednesday charged an Indian citizen with directing a foiled plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader in New York City.
Nikhil Gupta faces murder-for-hire charges, the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced. Mr Gupta was arrested in June by authorities in the Czech Republic, with whom the US has an extradition treaty.
“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,” US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
Mr Gupta has been charged with murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire. Both carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
The statement did not reveal the victim's identity, but Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US citizen of Indian origin and Sikh separatist leader, has been reported to be the target.
Mr Pannun is general counsel of Sikhs for Justice, an organisation supporting a Sikh state called Khalistan, independent from India.
The Financial Times first reported last week that Mr Pannun was the target of the failed plot and that the White House raised the issue “at the most senior levels” of the Indian government.
The report said the protest came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the White House in June.
Mr Pannun declined to tell the FT whether US authorities warned him about the plot, but said he would let the US respond “to the issue of threats to my life on American soil from the Indian operatives”.
“The victim is a vocal critic of the Indian government and leads a US-based organisation that advocates for the secession of Punjab, a state in northern India that is home to a large population of Sikhs, an ethnoreligious minority group in India,” the US Attorney's Office said.
“The victim has publicly called for some or all of Punjab to secede from India and establish a Sikh sovereign state called Khalistan, and the Indian government has banned the victim and his separatist organisation from India.”
According to the Justice Department, an Indian government employee identified as “CC-1" worked with others – including Mr Gupta – in India and elsewhere to direct a plot to assassinate a US-born Indian target residing in New York.
Mr Gupta was recruited by CC-1 earlier this year to “orchestrate the assassination of the victim” in the US, the Attorney's Office said in a news release.
The intended victim was an associate of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist who was murdered by masked gunmen outside a Sikh temple near Vancouver, Canada, in June.
After Mr Nijjar's murder, Mr Gupta said “there was 'now no need to wait'” on assassinating the victim, the US Attorney's Office said.
India has denied involvement in Mr Nijjar's assassination.
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