CHANDIGARH: Indian national Nikhil Gupta, 54, accused of hiring a hitman in 2023 plot to eliminate Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the US, on Friday pleaded guilty on three counts at a federal court hearing in New York. He had earlier pleaded not guilty after his extradition to the US from the Czech Republic.
The three charges — murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit money laundering — together carry a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.
Under a plea agreement, prosecutors reportedly recommended a sentence of 21-24 years, effectively halving the potential maximum term.
A spokesperson for the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan stated that Gupta pleaded guilty before Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn in the Manhattan federal court. Judge Sarah Netburn then recommended that District Judge Marrero accept the plea. Pannun, who also heads the proscribed Sikhs for Justice, holds dual US-Canadian citizenship.
Lawyers for Gupta were not immediately available for comment.
Gupta has been in a Brooklyn jail since June 2024. He was first arrested by the Czech Republic in 2023 at the Vaclav Havel Airport in Prague.
Prosecutors had accused Gupta of hiring a hitman for $100,000 to kill Pannun. They had identified his Indian handler based in Delhi as Vikash Yadav, a rogue RAW agent.
The plot failed as the purported hitman turned out to be an undercover federal agent.