<p>New Delhi: Nikhil Gupta, a businessman from India currently incarcerated in the United States, pleaded guilty on Friday to being involved with a plot to assassinate Khalistani Sikh terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York.</p><p>Gupta had been arrested in the Czech Republic in June 2023 and had been extradited to the US in June 2024. He had been accused by the US prosecutors of trying to hire a hitman to kill Pannun, a leader of the Sikhs for Justice, in New York, at the behest of Vikas Yadav, a former officer of the Research and Analytical Wing (RAW), the external intelligence agency of India.</p> .<p>The case has been an irritant in New Delhi’s ties with Washington, D.C., during the last few months of Joe Biden’s presidency in the US. It, however, resurfaced on Friday, for the first time after Donald Trump returned to the White House to succeed Joe Biden. </p><p>Gupta, who has been incarcerated in a jail in Brooklyn since his transfer from a prison in Prague, appeared before Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on Friday and pleaded guilty to all three charges against him.</p> .<p>New Delhi is studying the legal implications of his guilty plea, but sources told <em>DH</em> that the Government of India had nothing to do with it.</p><p>Gupta, according to the indictment filed by the US Department of Justice in a court in New York, had been working at the behest of a Government of India official, who had initially been identified in the court document as ‘CC1’.</p><p>The CC1, according to the US prosecutors, had earlier worked with the Central Reserve Police Force of India and had received training in battlecraft and weapons. He had allegedly described himself as a “senior field officer” with responsibilities in “security management” and “intelligence”.</p> .<p>The US prosecutors had later revealed the identity of CC1 as Vikas Yadav, an officer of RAW, while indicting him in October 2024.</p><p> The indictment unsealed at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York identified the accused as Vikas Yadav and alleged that he had been an employee of the Cabinet Secretariat of the Government of India while plotting to kill Pannun. </p><p>The indictment had also noted that the Cabinet Secretariat housed RAW, India's foreign intelligence service. He had been accused of recruiting Gupta to hire a hitman to kill Pannun, an American Sikh, known for playing a lead role in reviving the global campaign for the secession of Khalistan from India.</p> .<p>New Delhi had conveyed to Washington, D.C., that Yadav had no longer been in the service of the Government of India.</p> <p>Yadav had also been accused by the US of money laundering. He had allegedly agreed to pay $100,000 to the hitman, an undercover agent of the US Drug Enforcement Agency, hired by Gupta to kill Pannun. He had also been accused of making an advance payment of $15000 to the hitman through an associate in the US on June 9, 2023. </p>
<p>New Delhi: Nikhil Gupta, a businessman from India currently incarcerated in the United States, pleaded guilty on Friday to being involved with a plot to assassinate Khalistani Sikh terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York.</p><p>Gupta had been arrested in the Czech Republic in June 2023 and had been extradited to the US in June 2024. He had been accused by the US prosecutors of trying to hire a hitman to kill Pannun, a leader of the Sikhs for Justice, in New York, at the behest of Vikas Yadav, a former officer of the Research and Analytical Wing (RAW), the external intelligence agency of India.</p> .<p>The case has been an irritant in New Delhi’s ties with Washington, D.C., during the last few months of Joe Biden’s presidency in the US. It, however, resurfaced on Friday, for the first time after Donald Trump returned to the White House to succeed Joe Biden. </p><p>Gupta, who has been incarcerated in a jail in Brooklyn since his transfer from a prison in Prague, appeared before Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on Friday and pleaded guilty to all three charges against him.</p> .<p>New Delhi is studying the legal implications of his guilty plea, but sources told <em>DH</em> that the Government of India had nothing to do with it.</p><p>Gupta, according to the indictment filed by the US Department of Justice in a court in New York, had been working at the behest of a Government of India official, who had initially been identified in the court document as ‘CC1’.</p><p>The CC1, according to the US prosecutors, had earlier worked with the Central Reserve Police Force of India and had received training in battlecraft and weapons. He had allegedly described himself as a “senior field officer” with responsibilities in “security management” and “intelligence”.</p> .<p>The US prosecutors had later revealed the identity of CC1 as Vikas Yadav, an officer of RAW, while indicting him in October 2024.</p><p> The indictment unsealed at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York identified the accused as Vikas Yadav and alleged that he had been an employee of the Cabinet Secretariat of the Government of India while plotting to kill Pannun. </p><p>The indictment had also noted that the Cabinet Secretariat housed RAW, India's foreign intelligence service. He had been accused of recruiting Gupta to hire a hitman to kill Pannun, an American Sikh, known for playing a lead role in reviving the global campaign for the secession of Khalistan from India.</p> .<p>New Delhi had conveyed to Washington, D.C., that Yadav had no longer been in the service of the Government of India.</p> <p>Yadav had also been accused by the US of money laundering. He had allegedly agreed to pay $100,000 to the hitman, an undercover agent of the US Drug Enforcement Agency, hired by Gupta to kill Pannun. He had also been accused of making an advance payment of $15000 to the hitman through an associate in the US on June 9, 2023. </p>
