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 government employee offered to pay $100,000 for the assassination, according to the indictment.
"Gupta directed the [purported hit man] to carry out the murder as soon as possible, but Gupta also specifically instructed the [purported hit man] not to commit the murder around the time of anticipated engagements scheduled to occur in the ensuing weeks between high-level U.S. and Indian government officials," the news release stated.
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On June 18, Hardeep Singh Nijjaran, an associate of the victim, was killed by masked gunmen outside of a Sikh temple in British Columbia, Canada, prosecutors said. The following day, Gupta allegedly told the purported hit man that Nijjaran "was also the target" and said they had many other targets, according to prosecutors. Gupta told the purported hit man that because of Nijjaran's murder, there was no need to wait to kill the victim, according to prosecutors.
In September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that his government was investigating "credible allegations" that Indian government agents were involved in Nijjaran's death. The Indian foreign ministry, however, said Trudeau’s claims were “absurd" and that it had rejected Trudeau’s claims when he raised them with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who hosted world leaders at the G20 Summit. Trudeau, unlike his counterparts, did not have a formal bilateral meeting with Modi amid tense relations between the two countries.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Gupta's alleged target is "a vocal critic of the Indian government" and leads a U.S.-based organization that advocates for the secession of Punjab, home to a large population of Sikhs. Pannun, the alleged target, was not available for comment when NBC News called his law office.
"The Victim has publicly called for some or all of Punjab to secede from India and establish a Sikh sovereign state called Khalistan, and the Indian government has banned the Victim and his separatist organization from India," prosecutors said.
The Indian Embassy in the U.S. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gupta was charged with murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
