New Delhi, June 17
Indian national Nikhil Gupta, who has been accused in the murder plot of Khalistani terrorist and US citizen Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil, has been extradited to the United States from the Czech Republic.
Nikhil Gupta's extradition comes ahead of US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan's visit to New Delhi for the annual ICET dialogue. The matter is expected to be raised by Sullivan before his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval.
The news agency Reuters reported that a a search on the Bureau of Prisons website by inmate name showed on Sunday (June 16) that Gupta, 52, is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn, a federal administrative detention facility. Furthermore, a source independently confirmed to Reuters, on condition of anonymity, Gupta's extradition and his detention in Brooklyn.
Last month, a Czech court rejected Nikhil Gupta's petition to avoid being sent to the US, paving the way for the Czech justice minister to extradite him.
Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic on June 30 last year, based on US allegations of his involvement in a conspiracy to commit the killing. According to US federal prosecutors, Gupta was implicated in a plot to hire a hitman to kill a US citizen, purportedly under the direction of an Indian government official. The target was identified as Pannun.
India has denied its involvement in the Pannun murder plot and has constituted a probe committee to investigate the US's allegations. Nikhil Gupta too, through his attorney, has denied the charges and has said he has been "unfairly charged".
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun holds dual citizenship of the US and Canada, and is wanted in India on terror charges. He has been designated a terrorist by the Union Home Minister under the stringent anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
