Gurpatwant Singh Pannun murder plot: US court asks Biden govt to respond to pleas of Nikhil Gupta's lawyers 

A US court has requested the federal government to reply to a motion by Nikhil Gupta's lawyers, who is involved in a murder plot against Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. The lawyers have asked for material related to the charges against Gupta. 

On January 4, 2024, the defence counsel filed a motion to compel the production of discovery, asking the court to order the government to provide discovery material. US District Judge Victor Marrero ordered the government to respond to the Motion to Compel within three days. Gupta, an Indian, is accused of collaborating with an Indian government employee in a failed plot against Pannun, a dual citizen of the US and Canada. 

Meanwhile, a petition was filed on behalf of Gupta in the Supreme Court of India for consular access, legal aid and ongoing extradition proceedings in the Czech Republic. A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said this is a "sensitive" matter and it is for the Central Government to take a call if it wants to intervene on the issue. 

The bench said that it has to respect the jurisdiction of the foreign court where the matter is pending. "There is nothing much we can do. This is an international matter, and all aspects are covered under the Vienna Convention. If consular access is not granted, authorities can be approached directly. However, as per your own list of dates, consular access was given to you twice," the bench was quoted as telling senior counsel C Aryama Sundaram, appearing on behalf of Nikhil Gupta, by news agency ANI. 

Sundaram argued that as an Indian citizen, Gupta has a right to seek assistance from India, while adding that the latter was denied consular access and is currently under solitary confinement. The senior counsel also said that he will approach the Centre to treat the petition as a representation, while seeking the court's direction to ask the government to consider his representation. 

To this, the court said that it is for the Central government to decide whether to intervene or not. The plea further noted that the circumstances around Gupta's arrest were marked by irregularities as no formal arrest warrant was produced. It also noted that he was apprehended at the Prague airport on June 30, 2023 by alleged US agents instead of local Czech authorities. 

It also said that despite him being a devout Hindu, Nikhil Gupta was allegedly forced to consume beef and pork while in Czech custody in violation of his religious beliefs. It also sought direction from the Indian Embassy in Czech Republic to extend all cooperation to Gupta pending his illegal detention and imprisonment in Czech Republic. 

"Despite representations, emails, letters and phone calls both to the Ministry of External Affairs of India and to the Indian Embassy in Prague, Czech Republic, there has been no action or involvement by the Respondent Department in the current matter. There have been numerous procedural violations threatening the fundamental rights and even the most basic human rights of the petitioner, and the same," the plea noted. 

Gupta, 52, is detained in a prison in the Czech Republic while awaiting his extradition to the United States in a case alleging his involvement in a plot to murder Pannun. Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic on June 30, 2023, under the bilateral extradition treaty between the US and the Czech Republic.

He has been charged with murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, both of which carry a maximum sentence of 10 years, said Matthew G Olsen, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. 

(With ANI inputs)

Also Read: 'Party not a private property': Eknath Shinde after Maha Assembly Speaker declares his Shiv Sena faction a 'real political party'