New Delhi: Gujarat Police have started an inquiry to ascertain if Nikhil Gupta — the Indian national accused by the US of participating in an alleged plot to kill Sikh radical Gurpatwant Singh Pannun at the behest of an “Indian government employee” — faces any case in the state.
According to the indictment, filed in a New York district court, Gupta is involved in international narcotics and weapons trafficking and has a criminal past in the state.
The US Justice Department has alleged in its indictment against Gupta that he was assured by a “senior field officer” that the case against him in Gujarat will be “taken care of” if he facilitates the contract killing.
Speaking to ThePrint, Gujarat Director General of Police (DGP) Vikas Sahay said they have checked their records but not found any case against Gupta.
“We enquired into this and scanned past records of cases across districts but did not find any case against this individual. His name is not part of our records as an accused, witness or even a complainant,” he added.
He said the search is still on.
The indictment mentions that, on 12 May 2023, the officer told Gupta that his criminal case “has already been taken care of” and “nobody from Gujrat Police will now call”.
On 23 May, the officer again assured Gupta that he had spoken with the “boss” about his “Gujrat case” and that it was “all clear” and “nobody will ever bother you again”, the indictment says. It has also been alleged that the officer offered to arrange a meeting between Gupta and the “DCP (deputy commissioner of police)”.
The indictment says, following the officer’s assurances, Gupta “pressed forward to arrange the murder.”
‘$100,000 deal’
The indictment refers to the purported Indian government employee, said to be responsible for intelligence, as ‘CC-1’. It says he recruited Gupta to hire a hitman with advance payment to carry out the assassination in New York.
US prosecutors have claimed that Gupta subsequently started looking for people to carry out the task.
Gupta 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).
Gupta allegedly asked the latter, referred to as ‘CS’ in the indictment, to put him in touch with a hitman who could be given a contract to kill Pannun.
According to the indictment, this “criminal” then introduced Gupta to a purported hitman, who was an undercover US law-enforcement officer, saying that he would carry out the killing.
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 indictment also alleges that Gupta arranged for an associate to deliver $15,000 in cash to the hitman in Manhattan, New York, as advance payment. A purported photo of this transaction has been released by the US authorities.
The charges have been made in an indictment unsealed Wednesday before a New York district court — for the Southern District.
According to the US Justice Department, Gupta was arrested by Czech authorities on 30 June this year on the basis of an extradition treaty between Washington and Prague.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)