U.S. extradites Indian national allegedly involved in attempted assassination of Sikh activist

U.S. officials successfully extradited self-described drug and weapons trafficker Nikhil Gupta, 53, from the Czech Republic, the Justice Department said on Monday. Czech authorities arrested Gupta on June 30, 2023, and he arrived in the United States on Friday. Gupta will now face justice in an American courtroom on charges he allegedly attempted to kill a Sikh activist in the United States, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a written statement. Gupta pleaded not guilty in court on Monday, according to a report by the Associated Press.

What happened? Beginning in May 2023, Gupta worked with an agent of the Indian government to plot the assassination of a Sikh activist in New York who was a vocal critic of the Indian government, according to the Justice Department. Gupta allegedly contacted an individual who was a confidential informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for help hiring a hitman in the United States to kill the activist in New York City.

The Indian government representative provided Gupta with details about the intended victim’s day-to-day conduct, his home address, and his phone number, prosecutors say. Gupta told the DEA informant that they should conduct the killing as quickly as possible but not do so while high-ranking U.S. and Indian officials were scheduled to hold talks. While they were still planning the attack, masked gunmen killed another Sikh activist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in British Columbia, Canada. Nijjar was an associate of Gupta’s intended victim. Gupta told his DEA informant contact after Nijjar’s murder that there was no point in waiting on killing his intended victim in New York City. Gupta also told the informant that the Indian government was targeting many other Sikh activists in addition to the victim and Nijjar. The attack on the victim ultimately did not take place.

Dig deeper: Read Alexandra Ellison’s report in World Tour about how the attempted assassination of the Sikh activist in New York City created complications in the U.S.-India relationship.