Nikhil Gupta Files Application for Release in Pannun Case

Nikhil Gupta seeks dismissal of US charges over alleged plot to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

Nikhil "Nick" Gupta, an Indian national accused of orchestrating a plot to assassinate U.S.-based Khalistani separatist and proscribed terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, has filed an emergency motion in a U.S. federal court demanding the dismissal of charges against him and his immediate release from custody.

The motion, submitted on May 22 and docketed on May 29, argues that the indictment underpinning his extradition from the Czech Republic is "legally defective" and fails to state a cognizable offense under U.S. law.

In a handwritten, seven-page pro se filing addressed to Judge Victor Marrero of the Southern District of New York, Gupta invoked his constitutional rights under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments. He contends that the indictment, returned in October 2024—including charges of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and conspiracy to commit money laundering—fails to allege a critical statutory element: the specific state or federal murder law that would have been violated had the plot been carried out.