The Supreme Court of the Czech Republic has stayed the extradition of Indian national Nikhil Gupta to the US, a report in the The Indian Express said on Tuesday. A Czech high court had earlier ruled that Gupta, detained in a prison in the Czech Republic on murder-for-hire charges in an alleged assassination attempt on Khalistan separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, could be extradited to the US.
The Czech Ministry of Justice's spokesperson Markéta Andrová now told IE that the top court's ruling means that the 'Minister of Justice cannot decide on extradition or refusal until the Constitutional Court decides on the merits of the complaint filed by Nikhil Gupta.'
The top court, also known as the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic, in its interim decision back in January 30 this year had said that extraditing Gupta to the US would cause him more harm than anyone, the report said. It had said that the extradition won't be reversible even if it upholds Gupta's challenge. The court stated that the extradition would be irreversible, even if it Gupta's challenge is upheld.
There has been no fixed time frame provided by the Constitutional Court as to when will it rule on the merit of extradition plea of Gupta.
Gupta, 52, was charged by US federal prosecutors in an indictment unsealed in November last year with working with an Indian government employee in an alleged plot to kill Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who holds dual US and Canadian citizenships, on American soil.
He is currently lodged in Prague's Pankrak prison.
Published 07 May 2024, 11:56 IST