The US State Department said it "won't speak" until "allegations are proved" before a jury while commenting on the ongoing investigation into an alleged plot to assassinate Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
"There's a publicly returned indictment that contains alleged facts or allegations. Until they're proven before a jury that anyone can go and read, I won't speak to them here because, of course, it's an ongoing legal matter, and I'll leave it at that," US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a briefing, ANI reported.
Miller's remarks came in response to a media query on Pannun's case investigation.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun is an India-designated terrorist who holds American and Canadian citizenship.
Meanwhile, the highest court of the Czech Republic has stayed a lower court's decision permitting the extradition of 52-year-old Indian national Nikhil Gupta, who is indicted by the United States for plotting to kill Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, citing no significant harm to the public interest if this action is delayed, The Indian Express reported on May 7.
The Constitutional Court in Prague said Gupta’s extradition to the US for criminal prosecution would result in disproportionately greater harm to him than anyone else while hearing Gupta’s challenge to a lower court order approving his extradition to the US.
A lower Czech court ruled that Prague can extradite 52-year-old Indian, Nikhil Gupta, who is accused by the US of involvement in the alleged attempt to kill the Sikh separatist, a Czech-based media outlet reported citing a judicial database.
According to the US Justice Department indictment, Gupta is currently in custody and has been charged with murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Czech authorities arrested and detained Gupta on June 30, 2023, under the bilateral extradition treaty between the US and the Czech Republic.
The US Justice Department claimed that an Indian government employee, who was not identified in the indictment, had recruited Nikhil Gupta to hire a hitman to allegedly assassinate Panun, an attempt that was foiled by the US authorities.
Earlier, the External Affairs Ministry rejected reports highlighting the involvement of a Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) official in the alleged plot to kill Pannun.
Describing it as an "unwarranted and unsubstantiated" imputation on a "serious matter" that is under investigation, MEA official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the US media report was "speculative and irresponsible."
India has also set up a high-level committee to probe the matter.
The Russian Foreign Ministry on May 8 said that Washington is yet to provide any reliable evidence of the involvement of Indian citizens in the alleged murder plot case.
"According to the information we have, Washington has not yet provided any reliable evidence of the involvement of Indian citizens in the preparation of the murder of a certain GS Pannun. Speculation on this topic in the absence of evidence is unacceptable," the official spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova said.
Meanwhile, responding to a media query on the ongoing elections in India, the US State Department spokesperson said that Washington does not involve itself in polls anywhere around the world.
"Elections in India, as we don't involve ourselves in elections anywhere in the world. Those are decisions for the people of India to make," Miller said.
In April, US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel, on being asked about Lok Sabha elections in India and whether the US has sent any observers, said, "I am not aware of the United States sending any observers. We generally don't in the case of advanced democracies like India."
"We, of course, are eager to continue to deepen and strengthen our cooperation with our partners in India, and we are just going to let the election play out. I don't have any assessment or comment to offer on that," he said.