Nikhil Gupta: India Supreme Court rejects plea from US murder plot accused

India's Supreme Court has said that it will not intervene in the case of an Indian man accused of conspiring to kill a Sikh separatist on US soil.

US prosecutors have charged Nikhil Gupta with trying to hire a hitman to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

Mr Gupta is in jail in Prague, and his lawyer has said that the process to extradite him to the US has started.

"It is for the [Indian] government to take action," the Supreme Court said, rejecting the plea.

The petition, filed by an anonymous relative of Mr Gupta, had asked the Indian Supreme Court to aid his release and help him get a fair trial. His lawyer had also alleged that Mr Gupta was detained illegally.

"Looking at the principles of public international law and sovereignty and comity of courts we do not think any of the prayers can be granted," Justice Sanjay Khanna, one of the two judges on the bench, said, calling it a "sensitive matter". A copy of the order will be released later on Thursday.

Earlier, the Czech Republic's ministry of justice had told The Indian Express newspaper that Indian courts had "no jurisdiction" in Mr Gupta's case.

Mr Gupta made headlines in November when US prosecutors charged him with a plot to kill at least four Sikh separatists in North America, including Mr Pannun.

They said that Mr Gupta promised to pay $100,000 (£79,000) in cash to a hitman to assassinate Mr Pannun, a dual US-Canadian citizen, in New York. But the hitman was actually an undercover federal agent, prosecutors said.

Mr Gupta was allegedly directed by an Indian government official who was not named or charged in the indictment.

The charges against Mr Gupta carry up to 20 years in prison.

India has designated Mr Pannun a terrorist, an allegation he denies, claiming to be