Gurpatwant Singh Pannun murder case: Big murder conspiracy Nikhil Gupta has now been kept in custody till his next court appearance on June 28 and his lawyer has called the case complicated and has assured strong defense.
Nikhil Gupta, the Indian citizen accused of plotting the assassination attempt on US soil against Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Pannun , pleaded not guilty in federal court on Monday. And Gupta was extradited from the Czech Republic, where he was arrested last year.
Gupta ji will now be kept in custody till his next appearance in court on June 28. And his lawyer has called the case complicated and has assured a strong defense.
The Czech Republic police itself shared a video of Gupta being safely extradited from Prague. And in the blurred video, Gupta can be seen boarding the plane. And the Indian citizen arrested by the Czech police fought against his extradition to the US until a court ruled against his petition.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland has said that Gupta may now face justice in the same US court because he was acting on the instructions of the same Indian government official for his alleged role in the attempted murder of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. He has said that this extradition makes it clear that the Justice Department will not tolerate attempts to silence or harm an American citizen. And that Nikhil Gupta will now face justice in the same US court because he was involved in an alleged conspiracy directed by the same Indian government employee to target and kill an American citizen who supported the Sikh separatist movement in India.
US prosecutors have alleged that Gupta conspired with an Indian government official to kill Pannun. And who has been identified as CC 1 in the court documents. And he is said to be a senior field officer with the same intelligence background as CC1. And he has alleged that Gupta was recruited in May 2024 only to plot the murder.
According to court documents, Gupta is an Indian citizen residing in India and an associate of CC1. He has described his involvement in international drug and arms trafficking in his communications with CC1 and others, and a media release said.
And if Gupta ji is convicted, he can be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison. He will have to stay in jail for 10 years
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said the assassination was a blatant attempt to silence a political activist who was exercising his freedom of speech, a quintessential US official.
Pannun is a vocal critic of the Indian government and leads a US-based organisation that advocates the secession of Punjab.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun Live Updates: Czech Republic Police released the first video of Nikhil Gupta being extradited to the US
The Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta is being extradited to the US from the Czech Republic on June 14 after his arrest in Prague on 52 last year.
On Monday, the Czech Republic Police released the first picture of Nikhil Gupta, who is an Indian citizen and has also accused him of plotting the murder of Sikh extremist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on US soil.
Earlier, Czech Republic’s Justice Minister Pavel Blazek had confirmed that Nikhil Gupta has been extradited to the US.
And on Pavel Blazek’s own x, he had posted that on the basis of my decision on June 3, Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta, who is also suspected of plotting to commit murder, has been extradited to the US on Friday, June 14 for criminal prosecution.
Under the extradition orders issued by the US Justice Department, Nikhil Gupta has been detained at Prague Airport on June 30, 2023.
Nikhil Gupta extradited to USA by Czech Republic on 14 June Czech spokesperson
Gupta was arrested by Czech authorities on June 30 last year and Indian authorities were also given consular access to meet him several times.
Nikhil Gupta is the Indian national who has been accused by US authorities of being involved in a murder-for-hire conspiracy against Khalistani leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. And after completing legal formalities, he was extradited to the USA by the Czech Republic on 14 June.
In the previous indictment filed by USA prosecutors in a federal court in Manhattan, 52-year-old Gupta’s name has been registered as the person who allegedly conspired with the Indian government to kill Pannun and who has already been declared a terrorist in India.
Czech authorities had also arrested Gupta and taken him into their custody on June 30 last year, and Indian authorities were also granted diplomatic access to him on several occasions.
Czech Justice Ministry spokesman Vladimir Repka said, “The extradition will take place on Friday, this 14 June, 2024, at Prague-Ruzyne Airport.” And yet the Czech Justice Ministry authorized Gupta’s extradition by a decision on 3 June.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun update –Repka’s comments came just hours after The Washington Post reported early Monday morning that Gupta had been extradited to the USA ahead of his expected federal court appearance. And the post also reported that Gupta also visited New York over the weekend. The report also said that extradited activists must appear in court within a day of arriving in the USA.
The news of Gupta’s extradition has come just hours before US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is to arrive in India on a two-day visit at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval. And the focus of Sullivan’s visit has also come on critical and emerging technology. And the initiative has been under review for a long time, but people familiar with the matter have told on the condition of anonymity that the matter of murder for hire is also expected to be included in this discussion.
The details of the detention have been listed on the official website of the US Federal Bureau of Prisons. And according to which Gupta has been kept in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. And on the website of MSC, it has been said that all visits to this facility have been suspended till further notice.
Repka has said that the extradition has been signed by the Czech Justice Minister only after the final and binding decision of the Municipal Court in Prague on 23 November 2023 and the same was accepted by the High Court in Prague on 8 January 2024 regarding the admissibility of the extradition of Nikhil Gupta to the United States for criminal prosecution.
He has said that he has been extradited to the USA for criminal prosecution on suspicion of the crime of conspiracy to commit murder for hire with intent to cause death in violation of Title 18 of the United States Code of 1958 and murder for hire with intent to cause death in violation of Title 18 of the United States Code of 1958.
The US prosecution alleges that the Indian government employee was responsible for passing on the intelligence to a field operative identified only as CC1. Pannun, the leader of the New York Sikh For Justice, was also ordered to be killed. The SFJ was also outlawed by India.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun – 52-year-old Nikhil was extradited to the USA from the Czech Republic on Friday.
On Sunday, media reports said that Indian national Nikhil Gupta was also extradited from the Czech Republic on charges of involvement in the murder of a pro-Khalistani leader.
52-year-old Nikhil Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic last year on charges of being a spy for the US government and is expected to be produced in a federal court in New York on Monday.
Nikhil Gupta is currently lodged in the Federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn where he is listed as a single prisoner and the Washington Post was the only news outlet to report his extradition.
According to people familiar with the matter, Nikhil Gupta, who has been detained in the Czech Republic, has also arrived in New York on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive legal proceedings. The daily said that extradited defendants are usually required to appear in court within a day of arriving in the country.
Federal prosecutors allege that Gupta hired an assassin to kill Pannun and paid an advance of US$15,000 to an unnamed Indian government official, which they allege was involved.
Gupta’s extradition also comes ahead of US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan’s visit to New Delhi for the annual ICT dialogue and Sullivan is expected to raise the same issue with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval.
India itself has denied its involvement in such a case and investigation into the allegations has also begun.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun live update case 2024 –Nikhil Gupta himself has denied the allegations through his lawyer. And he has said that unfair allegations have been made against him.