Indian man pleads guilty to plotting to kill Sikh separatist in New York

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK, Feb 13 (Reuters) - An Indian man pleaded guilty on Friday to U.S. criminal charges that he orchestrated a failed Indian government-backed plot to kill a Sikh separatist in New York City, in connection with what U.S. and Canadian authorities have called a broader effort to target Indian dissidents.

Nikhil Gupta, 54, pleaded guilty to charges of murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He could face about 20 to 24 years in prison under recommended federal sentencing guidelines.

Prosecutors accused Gupta of plotting with an Indian government official to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen and lawyer at Sikhs for Justice in New York, who has advocated for a sovereign Sikh state in northern India.

India's government has dissociated itself from any plot against Pannun, saying it was against government policy.

The discovery of alleged assassination plots against Sikh separatists in the United States and Canada has tested relations with India, which has also denied involvement in such plots.

DEFENDANT SAYS HE AGREED ON MURDER PLAN

Gupta entered his plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn in Manhattan federal court.

"I agreed with another person to have another individual to murder (sic) a person in United States," and paid someone in New York $15,000 to commit the crime, Gupta said, according to a transcript of his plea hearing.

Gupta has been jailed in Brooklyn since initially pleading not guilty in June 2024 following his extradition from the Czech Republic, where he had been arrested a year earlier. His sentencing is scheduled for May 29, court records show.

Lawyers for Gupta did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Indian embassy in Washington, D.C., did not immediately respond to separate requests for comment.

UNDERCOVER AGENT POSED AS HITMAN

Prosecutors said an Indian government official, Vikash Yadav, recruited Gupta in May 2023 to orchestrate Pannun's assassination, with Gupta telling Yadav about his involvement in international narcotics and weapons trafficking.

According to court papers, Yadav arranged through dealings that Gupta brokered to pay $100,000 to a purported hitman, who was actually an undercover officer for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, to assassinate Pannun.

Gupta and Yadav arranged to have $15,000 in cash delivered to the undercover officer as an advance payment for the murder, court papers show.

Prosecutors said Yadav was employed by India's Cabinet Secretariat, which houses the country's foreign intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing.

He faces the same criminal charges as Gupta, but is not in U.S. custody. It is unclear whether Yadav has hired a defense lawyer.

“Nikhil Gupta plotted to assassinate a U.S. citizen in New York City,” the U.S. Attorney for Manhattan, Jay Clayton, said in a statement. "He thought that from outside this country he could kill someone in it without consequence, simply for exercising their American right to free speech. But he was wrong."