Pannun Murder plot accused Nikhil Gupta extradited to the US from Czech Republic

Nearly a year after he landed at the Prague airport, Indian national Nikhil Gupta, accused of being involved in a murder-for-hire plot against a Sikh extremist on American soil, has been extradited to the US from the Czech Republic, according to media reports emanating from Washington.

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Gupta, 52, was arrested in the Czech Republic last year at the request of the US government on charges of being involved in a plot to assassinate Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American citizen, in New York.

The Czech Constitutional Court last month rejected a petition by Gupta against his extradition to the US to face the charges.

US federal prosecutors allege that Gupta had been working according to the directions of an unnamed Indian government official.

India has, however, denied its involvement in such a case and has instituted a high-level investigation into the allegations.

Gupta is currently lodged at the federal Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn and expected to be produced before a federal court in New York.