Khalistani row: Nikhil Gupta, charged in plot to kill Pannun, approaches SC to intervene against extradition

Nikhil Gupta, who has been charged by US Department of Justice for plotting to kill Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun along with another Indian official, has approached the Supreme Court of India against his arrest and ongoing extradition proceedings in Czech Republic. 

Gupta’s petition is listed before a bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna, as per Bar and Bench. The matter is expected to be heard shortly. Gupta’s plea seeks directions for intervention in the extradition proceedings and necessary legal aid to Gupta. 

The 52-year-old is in custody of the Czech authorities and is facing extradition to the US in connection with the United States of America vs Nikhil Gupta case there.

A spokesperson for the Czech Ministry of Justice said that Gupta was arrested at the request of the US, which later submitted an extradition request. US had filed the extradition request in August 2023 citing conspiracy to commit murder for hire. 

The Municipal Public Prosecution Office in Prague, after preliminary investigations, moved to declare Gupta's extradition admissible. The decision, however, is not yet legally binding.

The US has charged Nikhil Gupta of working with an Indian government employee of plotting to kill Panun, who holds dual citizenship of the US and Canada. 

The US officials, in a statement said, "an Indian government employee, working together with others, including Gupta, in India and elsewhere, directed a plot to assassinate on US soil an attorney and political activist who is a US citizen of Indian-origin residing in New York City". Gupta planned to pay $100,000 to an assassin – who, unbeknownst to him, was a confidential source working with the  US Drug Enforcement Administration – to carry out the killing, with an advance payment of $15,000.

Also read: Who is Nikhil Gupta, the Indian man charged by US in plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun?

Also read: US wants to extradite Nikhil Gupta charged in plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun: Czech official