New Delhi: Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national accused of involvement in a 2023 plot to kill Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, has pleaded guilty on all three counts.
Gupta, 54, pleaded guilty at a federal court hearing in New York Friday to three charges linked to a plan to kill Pannun, according to a statement by the US Attorney’s Office.
Gupta, said the statement, “pled guilty to all three counts contained in the Second Superseding Indictment, charging him with murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, in connection with his efforts to murder a US citizen in New York City”.
“Nikhil Gupta was a key participant in a murder-for-hire plot against a US citizen, a murder that was prevented thanks to the actions of US law enforcement,” the statement quoted FBI Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky as having said. “The US citizen became a target of transnational repression solely for exercising their freedom of speech,” Rozhavsky added.
The statement also quoted FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle, Jr as having said, “At the direction and coordination of an Indian government employee, Nikhil Gupta plotted to assassinate a United States citizen on American soil, facilitating a foreign adversary’s unlawful effort to silence a vocal critic of the Indian government.”
Further, it quoted US Attorney Jay Clayton as having said, “He [Gupta] thought that from outside this country he could kill someone in it without consequence, simply for exercising their American right to free speech. But he was wrong, and he will face justice.”
Gupta, who is on trial in the US on murder-for-hire charges, was arrested on 30 June, 2023, in the Czech Republic. He was then extradited to the US on 14 June, 2024. By pleading guilty, he avoids trial. The Indian national entered his plea before the US Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn in a Manhattan federal court.
The US has indicted Gupta with conspiracy to murder Pannun, a US citizen who India has designated as a terrorist.
The US government has recommended a prison sentence of about 21-24 years for Gupta, half of the 40 years he faced, reported The New York Times.
In an exclusive interview with ThePrint, Gupta had said that he doesn’t know former R&AW officer Vikash Yadav, a co-accused in the case, and that all he needs is a “good lawyer to turn this around”.
“Never. I will never turn approver. All I need is a good lawyer to turn this around,” he had told ThePrint in January 2025, alleging that he was being “forced to turn approver” and “pressured to plead guilty”.
He added that he struggles every day in prison. On one occasion, he was confined for over 20 days in a “cage” in the US prison, he claimed.
The US indictment also claimed that Gupta is involved in international narcotics and weapons trafficking, and was recruited by an Indian government employee.
US prosecutors claimed 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).
In the indictment, this individual, referred to as a “confidential source (CS)”, put Gupta in touch with a “hitman”, US prosecutors have alleged, 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 was struck to pay $100,000 to the hitman.
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)