US indicts Indian in plot to kill separatist

The US justice department on Wednesday indicted a 52-year-old Indian national who allegedly worked at the direction of an unnamed Indian government employee to plot the killing of a Sikh separatist, days after reports suggested that American authorities thwarted a plot to kill pro-Khalistan leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on US soil.

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Federal prosecutors told a Manhattan court that 52-year-old Nikhil Gupta, aka Nick, worked with the Indian government employee, who was not identified in the document and only referred to as CC1, as part of a $100,000 plot to kill a prominent separatist leader.

Czech authorities arrested and detained Gupta, who lives in India on June 30 in the Czech Republic through a bilateral extradition treaty and he is currently awaiting extradition to the US, the indictment added.

“The defendant conspired from India to assassinate, right here in New York City, a US citizen of Indian origin who has publicly advocated for the establishment of a sovereign state for Sikhs,” said US Attorney Damian Williams in the indictment.

“CC-1 was employed at all times relevant to this Indictment by the Indian government, resides in India, and directed the assassination plot from India,” the indictment added, saying the Indian government employee recruited Gupta last May.

The indictment is expected to complicate the issue of reported US allegations of an Indian link to an attempt to kill Pannun. The development came barely two months after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau triggered a storm by alleging that there was a “credible” link between Indian government agents and the slaying of another Khalistani leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in the town of Surrey in June.

The indictment referred to the employee serving in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and receiving training in “battle craft” and “weapons”.