{"id":51310,"date":"2023-11-29T17:33:55","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T17:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/politics\/prosecutors-charge-indian-man-in-attempted-murder-for-hire-plot-against-sikh-activist-on-us-soil\/"},"modified":"2023-11-29T17:33:56","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T17:33:56","slug":"prosecutors-charge-indian-man-in-attempted-murder-for-hire-plot-against-sikh-activist-on-us-soil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=51310","title":{"rendered":"Prosecutors charge Indian man in attempted murder-for-hire plot against Sikh activist on US soil"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\n US federal prosecutors have charged an Indian national in an alleged murder-for-hire plot\u00a0to try to\u00a0assassinate a Sikh political activist in New York City, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday.\n <\/p>\n

\n Authorities say Nikhil Gupta, 52, paid an undercover officer he believed to be a hitman $100,000\u00a0to target\u00a0the victim, a US citizen who is unnamed in the indictment but described as an attorney and vocal critic of the Indian government.\n <\/p>\n

\n US officials familiar with the case told CNN the victim is\u00a0Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who runs a New York-based outfit called \u201cSikhs for Justice,\u201d which has held referendums for a separate Khalistan state. The organization is considered unlawful in India, where its website is not accessible.\n <\/p>\n

\n Gupta has been charged with murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire. He was arrested in June of this year in the Czech Republic and held pursuant to a bilateral extradition treaty, authorities said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Authorities allege Gupta worked with an Indian government official, who described himself as \u201csenior field officer\u201d with intelligence responsibilities and\u00a0\u201cdirected the assassination plot from India.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Pannun said in a statement that the attempt on his life represents a \u201cthreat to freedom of speech and democracy,\u201d as the case along with the recent assassination of another Sikh separatist on Canadian soil complicates relations between the US and India.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe attempt on my life on American Soil is the blatant case of India\u2019s transnational terrorism which has become a challenge to America\u2019s sovereignty and threat to freedom of speech and democracy,\u201d\u00a0Pannun said. \u201cIf death is the cost for running the Khalistan Referendum, I am willing to pay that price.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n CNN is reaching out to the Indian government for a response.\n <\/p>\n

\n Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was murdered in Canada in June, and the Canadian government said it had credible information linking India to the murder. The Indian government has denied the allegation.\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n Nijjar and Pannun were associates, US prosecutors say, as they were both leaders of the Sikh separatist movement. Just one day after Nijjar was killed, Gupta allegedly told a supposed hitman that Nijjar \u201cwas also the target\u201d and \u201cwe have so many targets.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n According to the indictment, an Indian government official recruited Gupta to \u201corchestrate\u201d the assassination. At the official\u2019s direction, prosecutors say, Gupta contacted someone in June he believed to be a hitman \u2013 but who was actually working with law enforcement \u2013 to murder Pannun.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Indian official gave Gupta Pannun\u2019s home address, phone numbers and details on his daily activities, prosecutors allege. The official also sent Gupta a video of Nijjar\u2019s \u201cbloody body slumped in his vehicle\u201d just hours after the murder occurred, according to the indictment.\n <\/p>\n

\n Gupta asked the supposed hitman to carry out the murder \u201cas soon as possible,\u201d but instructed the hitman \u201cnot to commit the murder around the time of anticipated engagements scheduled to occur in the ensuing weeks between high-level U.S. and Indian government officials,\u201d court documents say.\n <\/p>\n

\n This story has been updated with additional details.<\/em>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US federal prosecutors have charged an Indian national in an alleged murder-for-hire plot\u00a0to try to\u00a0assassinate a Sikh political activist in New York City, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday. Authorities say Nikhil Gupta, 52, paid an undercover officer he believed to be a hitman $100,000\u00a0to target\u00a0the victim, a US citizen who is unnamed in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-51310","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"yoast_head":"\nProsecutors charge Indian man in attempted murder-for-hire plot against Sikh activist on US soil | Prosfunds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"US federal prosecutors have charged an Indian national in an alleged murder-for-hire plot\u00a0to try to\u00a0assassinate a Sikh political activist in New York\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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