New York
\nAn Indian national has admitted in a United States court that he took part in a 2023 scheme to hire a hitman to assassinate a prominent Sikh separatist leader living in New York, federal prosecutors said.
\nNikhil Gupta, 54, pleaded guilty on Friday over his alleged role in attempting to make contact with a hitman to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist who holds dual US and Canadian citizenship.
\nPannun is affiliated with a New York-based group called Sikhs for Justice that advocates for the secession of Punjab, a northern Indian state with a large Sikh population.
\nIn court, Gupta told Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn that while in India in 2023, he transferred $15,000 online to someone he believed would carry out the assassination.
\nThe individual that Gupta contacted was, in fact, a confidential source working with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
\nFBI Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky said Pannun \u201cbecame a target of transnational repression solely for exercising their freedom of speech\u201d.
\nGupta, who was detained at Prague airport in the Czech Republic in June 2023 and extradited to the US, pleaded guilty to \u201cmurder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and conspiracy to commit money laundering\u201d, the US attorney\u2019s office for the southern district of New York said in a statement.
\nUnder federal sentencing guidelines, Gupta could face between 20 and 24 years in prison. A plea agreement calls for him to serve at least two decades.
\nHe is scheduled to be sentenced on May 29.
\nUS and Canadian authorities say the plot forms part of a wider campaign to target Indian dissidents abroad, allegations that have strained ties between Washington, Ottawa and New Delhi.
\n\u2018The Sikh state of Khalistan is my life\u2019s mission\u2019
\nJames C Barnacle Jr, head of the FBI\u2019s New York office, said Gupta worked with an Indian government employee who directed him to arrange the killing.
\nProsecutors allege that Indian intelligence officer Vikash Yadav, who remains at large, directed the plot and recruited Gupta in May 2023 to hire a hitman to carry out the murder.
\nIndian officials have denied involvement, saying any such operation would be contrary to government policy.
\nThe case has drawn attention from Sikh activists in the US and Canada.
\nAbout two dozen Sikh supporters of Pannun attended Friday\u2019s hearing, some chanting a victory slogan afterwards and holding a prayer service outside the court, waving yellow \u201cKhalistan\u201d flags \u2013 the name which they hope one day will replace Punjab.
\nPannun, who is designated a \u201cterrorist\u201d by New Delhi, said in a telephone interview after the hearing that he would continue his activism \u201ceven if I have to face a bullet\u201d.
\n\u201cI\u2019m not a terrorist\u201d, he told The Associated Press news agency.
\nHe described himself as a Sikh who, as a human rights lawyer, is campaigning to turn Punjab into a place where \u201call religions will have equal rights\u201d.
\nDescribing Gupta as \u201cjust a foot soldier\u201d, Pannun called on US authorities to pursue those in India who he says authorised the plot.
\n\u201cThe Indian government cannot shield itself behind this operational foot soldier because the command, the direction and the funds are authorised by the Indian government,\u201d he alleged.
\n\u201cI am ready to take India\u2019s bullet rather than take a step back and live like a slave. Working towards the independence of the Sikh state of Khalistan is my life\u2019s mission, until either I am killed or Punjab becomes an independent country,\u201d Pannun said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New York An Indian national has admitted in a United States court that he took part in a 2023 scheme to hire a hitman to assassinate a prominent Sikh separatist leader living in New York, federal prosecutors said. Nikhil Gupta, 54, pleaded guilty on Friday over his alleged role in attempting to make contact with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531441,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-531419","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n