Plot to kill Pannun: NY court asks US Govt to show proof of Nikhil Gupta’s murder-for-hire charge

In November last year, the US Department of Justice, in an indictment filed in a federal court in Manhattan, claimed that an Indian official was working with Gupta, an Indian citizen, in the foiled plot to kill Pannun.

Gupta, 52, has been charged with murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Matthew G Olsen, has said.

Prosecutors said that Czech authorities arrested and detained Gupta on June 30, 2023, pursuant to the bilateral extradition treaty between the US and the Czech Republic. Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic at the request of the US in connection with his participation in the murder plot.

Earlier, the Financial Times, citing multiple sources, had reported that the US had “thwarted a conspiracy to assassinate” Pannun on American soil and “issued a warning to India’s government over concerns it was involved in the plot”.

Describing it as a “matter of concern”, India had announced a high-level probe. Pannun is wanted by Indian probe agencies on various terror charges. With PTI

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