Indian suspect in plot to kill Sikh separatist pleads not guilty in US court

An Indian national extradited to the United States from the Czech Republic pleaded not guilty on Monday to involvement in an alleged plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader on US soil.

Nikhil Gupta, 52, who was detained at Prague airport in June 2023 on a US warrant, arrived in the United States on Friday.

Gupta appeared before a federal magistrate judge in New York on Monday and pleaded not guilty to charges of murder-for-hire, according to court filings.

“This extradition makes clear that the Justice Department will not tolerate attempts to silence or harm American citizens,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

“Nikhil Gupta will now face justice in an American courtroom for his involvement in an alleged plot, directed by an employee of the Indian government, to target and assassinate a US citizen for his support of the Sikh separatist movement in India,” Garland added.

The Justice Department unsealed the charges against Gupta in November, accusing him of conspiring with an unidentified Indian government official to kill a US citizen of Indian origin in New York City.

The alleged target of the plot was Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US and Canadian citizen who 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.

According to court documents an Indian government agency employee identified only as “CC-1” recruited Gupta in May 2023 to carry out the assassination of Pannun.

Gupta allegedly contacted an individual he believed to be a criminal associate to hire a hitman. The individual was in fact a confidential source working with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Canadian authorities have arrested