An Indian citizen accused of having ordered the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader in New York at the instigation of a New Delhi agent was extradited to the United States, where he pleaded not guilty on Monday.
Nikhil Gupta, 52, indicted in November by the United States for having ordered this assassination attempt, was handed over Friday by Czech authorities, according to Czech police and American court documents.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges when presented Monday to a judge in New York, who kept him in custody, according to those documents. A new hearing has been set for June 28.
The American justice system did not cite the alleged target of this project by name, but Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a founding lawyer of the American organization Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) which demands an independent state for this minority in northern India , confirmed in November that it was him.
“I have every confidence in the American judicial system that not only Gupta, the executioner, but also all these Indian officials who hired him will be held accountable for this sponsored assassination project,” reacted Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in a statement.
He cited by name three senior officials of the Indian security services “acting on the orders of Prime Minister Narendra Modi”, whom he accused of leading a campaign of “transnational repression” against Sikh separatists across the world.
He was referring to the phenomenon of authoritarian regimes projecting their control over their citizens outside their borders, which came to light with the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018, and which is constantly expanding, according to the human rights defenders.
– Assassination of a Sikh leader in Canada –
According to the indictment, an Indian government agent (identified only by initials) recruited Nikhil Gupta, a resident of India and involved in drug and arms trafficking, to murder “the victim”, in exchange for the dropping of criminal proceedings against him.
Nikhil Gupta was arrested at Prague airport on June 30, 2023, under an extradition request issued by the US Department of Justice. The Czech Constitutional Court gave the green light to the extradition in May.
Prime Minister Modi, who has just been re-elected for a third term, pledged to “examine” the matter in an interview in December 2023.
The Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had previously indicated that it had formed a “high-level” commission of inquiry.
According to U.S. intelligence agencies, the assassination plan was approved by India’s top espionage official at the time, Samant Goel, the Washington Post reported in April.
A similar affair in Canada is poisoning relations between Ottawa and New Delhi.
In May, Canada arrested and charged four Indian nationals for their alleged role in the 2023 assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader, in Vancouver.
Nijjar, who immigrated to Canada in 1997 and had been a citizen since 2015, advocated for an independent Sikh state in India, Khalistan.
Wanted by Indian authorities for alleged acts of “terrorism” and conspiracy to commit murder – charges he denied – Nijjar was shot dead on June 18, 2023 in front of the Sikh temple he led in the suburbs. from Vancouver.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in September incriminated the intelligence services in this assassination.
India called the accusations “absurd” and temporarily limited visas for Canadians and pushed Ottawa to recall its diplomats.
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