Indian extradited to US over alleged plot to assassinate Sikh separatist

An Indian national has been extradited to the United States and is scheduled to appear in Manhattan federal court on Monday to answer charges that he led a plot to kill a critic of the Indian government in New York.

Nikhil Gupta is accused of paying a hitman to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a leader of Sikhs for Justice, which advocates for the creation of a sovereign Sikh state.

Gupta, 52, was arrested in the Czech Republic late last year. He faces charges of murder-for-hire and murder-for-hire conspiracy.

“As alleged, the defendant conspired from India to murder, right here in New York, a United States citizen of Indian origin who publicly advocated for the establishment of a sovereign state for the Sikhs , an ethnoreligious minority group in India,” said U.S. Attorney Damian. Williams said in November at the time of Gupta's arrest. “We will not tolerate efforts to assassinate American citizens on American soil and we stand ready to investigate, thwart and prosecute anyone who seeks to harm and silence Americans here or abroad.”

A task force led by the Drug Enforcement Administration uncovered the alleged plot to kill Pannun after another Sikh separatist was killed in Canada, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. The killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar prompted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to blame New Delhi for what has become an international incident.

Nijjar was killed June 18 near a Sikh cultural center in Surrey, British Columbia, according to the Associated Press.

Three Canadians were arrested last month, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, for Nijjar's murder: Karan Brar, 22, of Edmonton; Kamalpreet Singh, 22, of Edmonton; and Karanpreet Singh, 28, of Edmonton.

Like Nijjar, Pannum advocates for the creation of Khalistan, an independent Sikh homeland in India's Punjab region.

Gupta was tasked by an unnamed “senior officer” in the Indian government with intelligence experience “to orchestrate the assassination of the victim,” according to the indictment filed in November.

The alleged hitman Gupta hired was actually a confidential source working for U.S. law enforcement, the indictment says. In May 2023, Gupta agreed to pay $100,000 for the hit job, with the U.S. Attorney's Office sharing photos of wads of cash exchanged by Gupta as a down payment for the assassination.

Gupta had opposed his extradition, but the Czech Constitutional Court cleared the way for his transfer to the United States in a ruling late last month, according to the BBC.

Aleem Agha of ABC News contributed to this report.