NYC murder-for-hire plot on ‘political dissident’ involving Indian government foiled: feds
A plot to assassinate a political dissident in New York City was foiled after the man charged with ordering a hitman was duped and ended up hiring undercover agent.
Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national, was enlisted to orchestrate the plot in the Big Apple by a government official in India, according to a Manhattan federal indictment.
Over the course of May and June this year Gupta, 52, exchanged messages with an informant and – unbeknownst to him – an undercover agent which sound like they came straight out of a spy movie, including one commanding them to “finish him…finish the job,” the indictment says.
Gupta also promised they would get “more jobs” to kill others if they successfully carried out the crime, the court papers show.
An Indian government employee — referred to in court papers as CC-1, or co-conspirator 1 — “directed” Gupta to carry out the assassination of an Indian-born American “attorney and political activist” who is a vocal critic of the Indian government and advocates for the secession of the northern state of Punjab to establish a Sikh nation called Khalistan, the filing says.
Although the indictment doesn’t name the target, it was reported to be Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a lawyer who works for the group Sikhs for Justice, according to The Times of India.
CC-1 told Gupta that he’d wipe his slate clean of a criminal case in exchange for Gupta’s help in planning the murder, court papers show.
On May 12, CC-1 told Gupta his criminal case “has already been taken care of” adding that “nobody from Gujrat police is calling .. nobody will ever bother you again,” the indictment alleges.
Gupta then contacted someone he thought was a criminal to help him find a hitman for the New York hit, but the criminal was actually a confidential source for law enforcement, the court papers allege.
The informant hooked Gupta up with a “hitman” but the supposed killer was actually an undercover agent, the indictment says.
In the end, Gupta promised to pay $100,000 in the murder-for-hire plot, agreeing to give a $15,000 advance payment until the hit was complete, the court papers claim.
“The whole money will be paid with in [sic] 24 hours after the work is done,” CC-1 told Gupta.
Gupta told CC-1 on May 25, he told his people in the Big Apple to “discharge” the victim “as soon as possible,” the filing claims.
On June 9, CC-1 told Gupta that the downpayment for the scheme was coming “today” and told Gupta to “activate the team and get it done this weekend,” the indictment claims.
That same day, a go-between met the undercover agent and gave him $15,000, the indictment alleges, including a photo of the hand-to-hand cash transaction taking place inside a car.
CC-1 gave Gupta information about the victim, including his home address, phone numbers and information about the victim’s daily activities — which Gupta allegedly passed along to the informant and the agent.
Gupta instructed the men not to kill the target during high-level diplomatic meetings between the US and India, including sending a message on June 6 telling the informant on a call: “We need to calm down everything 10 days.”
Gupta assured the informant that after the murder was complete he would have “more jobs, more jobs” for the men “referring to more targeted killings … in the future,” the indictment claims.
After the June 18 murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar — a friend of the victim’s — outside a Sikh temple in Canada, Gupta told the undercover agent that Nijjar “was also the target” adding “we have so many targets,” according to the court papers.
The death of Nijjar caused an international incident after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Indian government agents of being involved in the hit, causing a rupture in diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Gupta told the supposed hitman that because of the Nijjjar murder there was “now no need to wait” on killing their target, the indictment claims.
CC-1 sent Gupta a news article about their intended target on June 20 and said it’s a “priority now,” the indictment says.
Ten days later on June 30, Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic at the request of US authorities working through Interpol and will be exatrdicted US.
There is no date scheduled yet for Gupta’s appearance in Manhattan federal court. The US attorney’s office declined to comment on Gupta’s current whereabouts.
“As alleged, the defendant conspired from India to assassinate, right here in New York City, a U.S. citizen of Indian origin who has publicly advocated for the establishment of a sovereign state for Sikhs, an ethnoreligious minority group in India,” Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
It was not immediately known if Gupta has a lawyer.
