New York. The US court has given a big verdict in the high-profile case of conspiring to murder Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, leader of the banned Khalistani organization Sikh for Justice (SFJ) and declared terrorist. A New York court has sentenced Indian national Nikhil Gupta to 24 years of rigorous imprisonment for his involvement in this conspiracy. During the hearing held on Friday, Nikhil Gupta accepted all the serious allegations against him, after which the judge decided on the punishment. However, a formal and detailed announcement of the punishment will be made on May 29.
According to official information released by the US investigative agency FBI and the Attorney Office, Nikhil Gupta (aka Nick) has confessed to the three major charges against him under the Second Superseding Indictment. These charges include attempt to commit murder by giving betel nut (murder-for-hire), conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit money laundering. American agencies clarified that this entire conspiracy was hatched against an American citizen, which was foiled in time through intelligence action.
The charge sheet presented in the court by American prosecutors reveals the layers of this entire conspiracy. According to this, the conspiracy started in May 2023. It is alleged that a former Indian security officer, identified as Vikas Yadav (CC-1), had groomed Nikhil Gupta for this work. Under this plan, a hitman was contacted to murder Pannu, but Nikhil had no idea that the person he was giving contract to was actually an undercover agent of the American investigation agency. A total deal of 1 lakh dollars (about Rs 84 lakh) was fixed for this murder in June 2023, out of which advance payment of 15 thousand dollars was delivered through a medium. Meanwhile, terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was murdered in Canada, after which Nikhil had allegedly asked the hitman to speed up the work. Nikhil Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic on June 30, 2023 and was extradited to the US about a year later in June 2024. Nikhil, who had initially declared himself innocent, has now surrendered before the evidence and accepted his crime.
In this case, American agency FBI has also declared Vikas Yadav wanted. However, the Indian government has clarified its stand on this entire matter, saying that the person whose name has appeared in the US charge sheet is no longer an employee of the Indian government. India has also constituted a high-level committee to investigate the matter. At the same time, Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, whose murder was planned, is a terrorist declared under UAPA in India. Pannu, a resident of Khankot, Punjab, holds US and Canadian citizenship and is wanted for alleged anti-India activities and promoting separatism. This decision of the American court is considered very important from the point of view of international diplomacy and security.
