New Delhi: A New York federal judge on 8 January ordered US prosecutors to produce documentary evidence supporting the murder-for-hire charge against Indian national Nikhil Gupta.
According to the order, seen by ThePrint, the government has been asked to file a reply within three days.
The United States has indicted Gupta, an Indian national, with a conspiracy to murder Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) founder Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US citizen who is a designated terrorist in India. Gupta was arrested by the Czech authorities on 30 June and is awaiting extradition to the United States.
The direction is part of the procedure to start the trial. Gupta’s trial will begin once he is extradited to the US.
“On 4 January 2024, defense counsel filed a motion to compel production of discovery, requesting that the court enter an order directing the Government to begin providing defense counsel with discovery materials. The court hereby directs the government to file a reply to the Motion to Compel within three days of this order,” the order says.
The indictment filed by US prosecutors against Gupta was unsealed on 29 November.
This document, filed in a New York district court, also alleges that an Indian government employee played a role in the “failed plot”.
US prosecutors say this “employee” directed the “assassination plot from India”. The indictment claims Gupta is involved in international narcotics and weapons trafficking, and was recruited by the Indian government employee.
US prosecutors have alleged that Gupta subsequently started looking for people to carry out the task and then contacted an individual who he believed to be a “criminal associate” but was actually a confidential source working with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
In a habeas corpus petition filed in the Supreme Court of India in December and rejected by the court on 4 January, Gupta’s family had said he was “aggrieved by the blatant negligence and omission” by Indian Embassy officials to handle his case with “due care and caution”.
Facing extradition, Gupta is currently lodged in Pankrác prison in Prague, where, the petition alleged, he was being kept in illegal detention.
He has been under duress to confess to the allegations, said the petition filed in the Supreme Court, which also disclosed that a lower court in Prague has given a green signal to Gupta’s extradition.
Rejecting the petition, filed by an unidentified family member of Gupta, the top court said it was a sensitive matter and the Government of India would decide how to go about it.
Also read: First ‘Pannun plot’ indictment filed by US only mentioned Nikhil Gupta, not ‘Indian govt employee’