New Delhi: The first indictment filed in the US against Nikhil Gupta — the Indian national accused of participating in an alleged plot to kill Sikh radical Gurpatwant Singh Pannun — did not mention the suspected involvement of an “Indian government employee”, as alleged in the superseding indictment.
The initial indictment is part of a habeas corpus petition — under which a court can direct a person in detention to be produced before it — filed in the Supreme Court by Gupta’s family Friday.
An indictment is a formal accusation issued by a grand jury, which is part of the US’ judicial framework. A superseding indictment amends the original on the basis of fresh evidence that may have been uncovered.
The superseding indictment filed by US prosecutors against Gupta was unsealed on 29 November.
This document, filed in a New York district court, alleges the role of an Indian government employee in the “failed plot”. The superseding indictment says the employee “has variously described himself as a ‘senior field officer’ with responsibilities in ‘security management’ and ‘intelligence’, and who also has referenced previously serving in India’s Central Reserve Police Force and receiving ‘officer[] training’ in ‘battle craft’ and ‘weapons’”.
US prosecutors say this “employee” directed the “assassination plot from India”.
The superseding indictment claims Gupta is involved in international narcotics and weapons trafficking, and was recruited by the Indian government employee.
US prosecutors have claimed that Gupta subsequently started looking for people to carry out the task and then allegedly contacted an individual whom he believed to be a “criminal associate”, but was actually a confidential source working with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
This person — referred to as a “confidential source (CS)” — put Gupta in touch with a “hitman”, US prosecutors have said, adding that the latter was actually an undercover DEA officer.
The indictment says that after Gupta made a team and conveyed the same to the Indian official, a deal to pay $100,000 to the hitman was struck.
The earlier indictment said Gupta directed a “confidential informant (CI)” to carry out the murder of “a lawyer who lives in New York”. There is no mention of an Indian government employee.
Gupta is believed to have been arrested in June in the Czech Republic.
Gupta, the petition filed by his family in the Supreme Court says, was picked up from the Prague airport on 30 June, soon after he got immigration clearance. It adds that he was visiting Prague for tourism and to explore new business opportunities.
His family has said that Gupta, who is facing extradition, is lodged in Prague’s Pankrác prison.
According to the family, Gupta believes he is being kept in illegal detention. His family has also said he is “aggrieved by the blatant negligence” of the Indian Embassy officials in Prague in handling his case with “due care and caution”.
‘Kill everyone, let them go to heaven’
The documents attached to the petition include an affidavit filed in support of a request for extradition by a special agent of the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
According to the affidavit, on 19 June, Gupta communicated to the confidential informant “the urgency” to carry out the killing.
“On 19 June when CI told Gupta that he was concerned that the victim may be around innocent bystanders, Gupta told the CI to ‘kill everyone’, to let them ‘go to heaven’,” the affidavit says.
Gupta, it adds, also told the informant that it was just “first of four jobs”, and that he needed to push the hitman to do the job in “11 days”.
Gupta, the affidavit alleges, had been in touch with the “confidential informant” since 2016, and repeatedly discussed “firearms and narcotics deals” with him but never did any transaction.
The document says Gupta thought the informant was a cocaine supplier from Colombia.
Giving details on how the alleged plot was planned, the document says that, on 30 May, while discussing firearms and narcotics deals, Gupta asked the CI if he knew someone who could murder a lawyer who lived in New York.
Gupta then provided the CI with the victim’s name and explained that he would pay $100,000 for the murder, the document says, adding that the CI agreed to facilitate the meeting.
This is when the CI introduced Gupta to the undercover law enforcement officer as his contact in New York, saying he would be coordinating with the individuals tasked with committing the murder, the document says.
“On 9 June, Gupta arranged for money courier to pay the undercover agent an advance of $15,000 and an advance payment for the murder,” the document says.
“On 13 June, he was charged in an indictment for the murder-for-hire scheme and on the same day the warrant for his arrest was issued,” it says.
On 19 June, a provisional arrest request was made by the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Justice, and, on 30 June, the Czech authorities arrested Gupta.
The document also says that Gupta visited the US twice — once in December 2016 and then in June 2017.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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