Indian national Nikhil Gupta, accused of being involved in a murder-for-hire plot against Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, was extradited from the Czech Republic to the United States on June 14, a development his family, a source said, only discovered Sunday evening through their US lawyer after Gupta was sent to a detention centre in Brooklyn, New York. Produced before a federal court in New York, Gupta pleaded not guilty, his attorney Jeffrey Chabrowe was quoted saying by news agency PTI. The family had no intimation from either the Czech government or their lawyers in Prague about the government’s final decision, not even before his actual extradition on Friday. “He (Gupta) is likely to be produced in the court on Monday,” said a source close to the family. Gupta is believed to have last spoken to his family members on the phone “five to six days ago”. Asked what the family’s next steps were, the source added: “Let’s see what happens next. For now, they are hoping to speak to him. They have exhausted their financial resources trying to fight his case legally in Prague. It’s not looking good for them (financially).” Markéta Andrová, spokesperson for the Czech Ministry of Justice, told The Indian Express that the Czech government decided in favour of Gupta’s extradition on June 3 and it “was carried out on Friday, June 14, 2024, at Prague-Ruzyne Airport”. This comes at a time when US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is visiting New Delhi for the annual initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) dialogue with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval. Andrová said that the Czech Ministry of Justice’s decision came after the decisions of the Municipal Court in Prague dated November 23, 2023, and the High Court in Prague dated January 8, 2024, both of which ruled positively on the admissibility of the US request for Gupta’s extradition. The two court decisions were confirmed by the Czech Constitutional Court on May 22. Gupta had, in January this year, approached the top court arguing that the two lower courts had not examined the political nature of the act that he was accused of. “The extradition to the US was authorised for criminal prosecution on suspicion of committing the crime of conspiracy to commit a murder-for-hire with the intent to cause death, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, § 1958(a), and the crime of murder for hire with the intent to cause death, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, § 1958(a),” Androva said in an email to this newspaper. The 52-year-old 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 Pannun, an American citizen, in New York. On June 30 last year, as Gupta travelled from India to the Czech Republic, he was arrested by Czech law enforcement authorities at the request of the US, pursuant to the bilateral extradition treaty between the two countries. Gupta, The Indian Express has learned, was supposed to be joined by his family, a few days after his Prague visit for a family trip to Europe. “The family members had their visas ready. He even spoke to his family after landing in Prague, but his phone remained switched off when they tried reaching him again. they found out about his arrest about 20 days later,” the source close to the family said. Since then, Gupta’s family has approached the Supreme Court seeking its intervention in his matter. The top court rejected the plea stating that it is a “sensitive” matter and said it is for the “government to take action”. Gupta's family is learned to have written emails to officers in the MEA but haven’t managed to meet anyone yet, the source said. Since his arrest, Gupta has been permitted to make calls to his family in India. “He’s mentally strong. He keeps telling them that he’s fine. But he’s also aware that his mother is listening to him on speaker phone and doesn’t want to stress her out,” the source added.
