Authorities in the United States said an Indian government official masterminded a failed plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist on American soil as they announced charges against a man accused of plotting the assassination attempt.
On Wednesday, federal prosecutors said Nikhil Gupta, a 52-year-old Indian man, worked with an Indian government intelligence and security operative in a covert effort to kill a Sikh activist in New York.
Prosecutors did not name the Indian official or the target, but described the target as a critic of the Indian government and a supporter of an independent Sikh state in the Punjab region, home to a large number of Sikhs and once the site of a movement to create Khalistan – a Sikh homeland independent of India.
Gupta was arrested by Czech authorities in June and is awaiting extradition.
Prosecutors said Gupta allegedly planned to pay the hitman $100,000 to carry out the murder.
The charges came a week after a senior member of President Joe Biden’s administration said the US foiled a plot to kill a Sikh separatist in the US, and two months after Canadian authorities accused the Indian government of involvement in the assassination of a Sikh activist in Canada.
That official said the target of the foiled plot was Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who claims to be a dual citizen of the United States and Canada.
The Indian embassy in Washington has not yet commented on the allegations.
New Delhi has denied allegations that it was behind the June killing of Canadian Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, but Canadian authorities are standing by the claim and have withdrawn dozens of diplomats from India in response.
According to US prosecutors, the official hired Gupta in May 2023 to organize the assassination.
Gupta subsequently approached someone he thought was a criminal associate to help him hire a hit man, but that associate was actually an undercover agent for the US Drug Enforcement Administration, prosecutors said.
Gupta faces two counts of murder-for-hire and murder-for-hire conspiracy. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
India has described Sikh separatism as a threat to national security and has fought a brutal campaign against armed separatists seeking a Sikh state in Punjab, commonly referred to as Khalistan, in the 1980s.
While India continues to crack down on activists who support Khalistan separatism, analysts say the movement has long ceased to be a serious force in India.
