Nik Gupta extradited to the United States: his alleged involvement in the Pannun assassination attempt, timeline of events | News explained

The case

Gupta, 52, was arrested in Prague last year at the request of the US government, accused of being involved in plot to assassinate Pannun in New York. Pannun has dual American and Canadian citizenship and heads the pro-Khalistan organization Sikhs for Justice, which has been banned in India.

US federal prosecutors alleged that Gupta hired a hitman to kill Pannun, making an advance payment of $15,000 in May-June 2023. The allegations were made in a statement. indictment filed by the Department of Justice (DoJ) in the Southern District of New York, unsealed in November of last year.

Although it does not name Pannun as the victim, the indictment offers details that leave little doubt. The “victim” is described as “a lawyer and political activist,” “a U.S. citizen residing in New York,” “a vocal critic of the Indian government… (who) leads a U.S.-based organization that advocates for the secession of Punjab. ”, and claims that the Indian government has “banned the victim and his separatist organization”.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), however, rejected the report, saying it made unwarranted and baseless imputations to the allegations. India has publicly stated that a high-level investigation is underway to examine the evidence shared by the United States on the matter.

Gupta, through his lawyer, denied the accusations against him, saying he had been “unjustly accused.”

These allegations come just months after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in September 2023 accused “agents of the Indian government” of being involved in the fatal shooting of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Khalistani separatist on Canadian soil on June 18. Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, like Pannun, had been a vocal critic of the Indian government.

The MEA, however, dismissed Trudeau's allegations as “absurd.” Trudeau's claims have had a negative impact on India's bilateral relations with Canada.

Gupta's arrest and extradition

On June 30 last year, while Gupta was traveling from India to the Czech Republic, he was arrested by Czech law enforcement authorities at the request of the United States, in accordance with the bilateral treaty extradition between the two countries.

Later, the Prague Municipal Court (November 23, 2023) and the Prague High Court (January 8, 2024) ruled positively on the admissibility of the US extradition request. On January 19, 2024, Gupta had challenged the decisions of both courts, arguing that the courts had not properly assessed the political nature of the act.

As a result, the Czech Republic's highest court stayed lower court decisions authorizing the extradition, finding that there would be no significant harm to the public interest if this action was delayed. In its interim ruling on January 30, the Constitutional Court in Prague said that extraditing Gupta to the United States for criminal prosecution would cause him disproportionately greater harm than anyone else. Furthermore, he stressed that this action would be irreversible.

However, on May 22, the Constitutional Court rejected Gupta's challenge against the decisions of the Municipal Court and the High Court, paving the way for his extradition.

A day after Gupta's request was rejected, a spokesperson for the Czech Justice Ministry told The Indian Express that his extradition would now be decided “promptly, without undue delay”.

On June 3, the Minister of Justice of the Czech Republic authorized the extradition of Nikhil Gupta to the United States. “The extradition took place on Friday June 14, 2024 at Prague-Ruzyně airport,” he said.

After that

According to reports, Gupta is currently housed at the Metropolitan Federal Detention Center in Brooklyn. He will likely appear in court on Monday. The development comes at a time when US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is visiting New Delhi for the annual Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) dialogue with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval.

Gupta's extradition is an issue that should have been raised during the negotiations. Sullivan also met Foreign Minister S Jaishankar in New Delhi on Monday, just two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy. Gupta's trial will begin soon.