An Indian national has been charged with allegedly orchestrating a thwarted murder-for-hire plot that sought to execute a U.S. citizen and Sikh activist on U.S. soil in New York Metropolis.
Nikhil “Nick” Gupta, 52, of India, is charged with homicide for rent, which carries a most sentence of 10 years in jail, and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, which carries a most sentence of 10 years in jail, the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Southern District of New York introduced. He’s alleged to have labored on the course of an unnamed Indian authorities company worker, in accordance with the costs contained in a superseding indictment unsealed in federal court docket Wednesday.
“As alleged, the defendant conspired from India to assassinate, right here in New York City, a U.S. citizen of Indian origin who has publicly advocated for the establishment of a sovereign state for Sikhs, an ethnoreligious minority group in India,” U.S. Lawyer Damian Williams stated. “I am grateful that my Office and our law enforcement partners neutralized this deadly and outrageous threat. We will not tolerate efforts to assassinate U.S. citizens on U.S. soil, and stand ready to investigate, thwart, and prosecute anyone who seeks to harm and silence Americans here or abroad.”
CANADA INVESTIGATING ALLEGATIONS INDIA INVOLVED IN ASSASSINATION OF SIKH ACTIVIST ON CANADIAN SOIL
Activists of the Dal Khalsa Sikh group, a pro-Khalistan group, stage an illustration demanding justice for Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was killed in June 2023 close to Vancouver. (NARINDER NANU/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
Czech authorities already arrested and detained Gupta, an Indian nationwide, on June 30, 2023, pursuant to the bilateral extradition treaty between the US and the Czech Republic.
Federal prosecutors say an Indian authorities company worker, described in court docket paperwork as CC-1, allegedly dedicated “the brazen act of recruiting an international narcotics trafficker to murder a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil.” The worker, who described himself as a “Senior Field Officer” with duties in “Security Management” and “Intelligence,” and who additionally has referenced beforehand serving in India’s Central Reserve Police Drive, allegedly directed the assassination plot from India.
The worker allegedly recruited Gupta in Could to assist orchestrate the assassination of the unnamed sufferer who prosecutors say is a U.S. citizen initially from India who had publicly known as for some or all of Punjab to secede from India and set up a Sikh sovereign state known as Khalistan.
Protestors maintain an image of Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi throughout an illustration outdoors the Indian consulate in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. (Arlyn McAdorey/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photographs)
CANADA EXPELS TOP INDIAN DIPLOMAT AMID PROBE INTO ALLEGED LINKS TO SIKH ACTIVIST’S ASSASSINATION
The Indian authorities has banned the sufferer and his separatist group from India.
On the Indian authorities worker’s course, Gupta allegedly contacted a person who he believed to be a legal affiliate who was in actual fact an undercover supply for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Authorities say Gupta helped dealer a deal of a $100,000 cost for the murder-for-hire and organized for a complicated cost of $15,000 to be delivered in Manhattan in June.
Protestors burn an image of Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi outdoors the Indian consulate in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. (Arlyn McAdorey/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photographs)
On June 18, 2023, masked gunmen murdered Hardeep Singh Nijjar outdoors a Sikh temple in British Columbia, Canada, federal prosecutors say. Based on authorities, Nijjar was an affiliate of the sufferer, and just like the sufferer, was a frontrunner of the Sikh separatist motion and an outspoken critic of the Indian authorities.
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The indictment says that the day after Nijjar’s homicide, Gupta advised the undercover supply that Nijjar “was also the target” and “we have so many targets.” Gupta allegedly added that, in mild of Nijjar’s homicide, there was “now no need to wait” on killing the New York goal. On June 20, 2023, the Indian authorities worker allegedly despatched Gupta a information article in regards to the sufferer, writing, “[i]t’s [a] priority now.”
