Federal prosecutors on Wednesday announced charges against a man they said was “recruited” by an Indian government employee to assassinate a Sikh activist in New York City.
Nikhil Gupta, 52, an Indian national, was arrested in the Czech Republic on June 30 on murder-for-hire charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said in a news release.
Gupta is accused of trying to hire a hit man to kill an attorney and political activist who is a U.S. citizen of Indian origin. The purported hit man Gupta allegedly tried to hire was an undercover officer with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
The victim was not named in the court documents, but The Associated Press identified the target as Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, whom the Indian government allegedly considers a terrorist.
“The dedicated law enforcement agents and prosecutors in this case foiled and exposed a dangerous plot to assassinate a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said in a statement. “The Department of Justice will be relentless in using the full reach of our authorities to pursue accountability for lethal plotting emanating from overseas.”
The unidentified Indian government employee allegedly contacted Gupta in May to orchestrate the assassination, according to a superseding indictment unsealed Wednesday. The employee told Gupta that in exchange, the employee would help with getting a criminal case in India against Gupta dismissed.
Gupta allegedly reached out to someone he believed was a criminal associate for assistance with finding a hit man, prosecutors said, noting that the person Gupta reached out to was a source working with the DEA.
The DEA source connected Gupta to the undercover DEA officer who pretended to be a hit man, the indictment stated.
The Indian government employee gave Gupta information about the victim, including phone numbers, the victim’s day-to-day conduct and the victim’s home address in New York City. The…
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