Nikhil Gupta, an Indian citizen accused by the United States of conspiring with an Indian government employee to assassinate a Khalistani separatist in New York, pleaded guilty on Friday to three criminal charges.
Gupta, 54, pleaded guilty to murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit money laundering before US Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn in Manhattan federal court. The charges carry a maximum combined sentence of 40 years in prison.
In 2023, the United States Department of Justice accused Gupta of conspiring with an Indian government official to kill Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
Pannun, an American and Canadian citizen, is an advocate for Khalistan, an independent state for Sikhs. He is the general counsel of an organisation called Sikhs for Justice, which was banned in India in 2019. Pannun was declared an “individual terrorist” in India under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in 2020.
The US charges came months after the Canadian government alleged the involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of Sikh Separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar near Vancouver in June 2023.
New Delhi has denied involvement in the alleged plot to assassinate Khalistani separatists. However, it had said at the time that it constituted a high-level committee to examine the inputs provided by the United States.
There was no immediate comment from the...
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