E-Paper
SC rejects petition by kin of Nikhil Gupta indicted by US in Pannun murder plot: ‘Sensitive issue’
Supreme Court said the government will decide how to go about this sensitive issue. Nikhil Gupta was charged by the US for plotting to kill Pannun in the US.
The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a petition filed by an unidentified family member of Indian national Nikhil Gupta, who is accused in a US court of plotting an assassination attempt in New York, to grant Gupta consular access and legal aid to challenge his indictment and extradition. The top court said it is a sensitive matter and the Government of India will decide how to go about it. "Considering the public international law and comity of courts, we can't intervene," the Supreme Court said. The top court said it should respect the jurisdiction of a foreign court.
Nikhil Gupta, a Delhi-based businessman, was arrested in the Czech Republic in 2023 and the US charged him for plotting to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist leader. The US said Nikhil Gupta was working with a government agent and hired a hitman -- who was actually an undercover cop -- to kill Pannun.
New Delhi said it was looking into the allegations as they were very serious and constituted a probe panel. Nikhil Gupta's family moved the Supreme Court and said Gupta was kept in isolation in jail, and was being forced to eat meat and pork.
“From the outset, the petitioner contends that the circumstances surrounding his arrest were marked by irregularities, with no formal arrest warrant presented, and the apprehension executed by self-claimed US agents rather than local Czech authorities," the petition said.
“The petitioner was not shown any arrest warrant during the initial detention. Instead, he found himself in the custody of individuals purporting to represent US interests," it said.
Who is Nikhil Gupta?
Nikhil Gupta's name surfaced for the first time in the US indictment on November 29 in which he was accused of plotting to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. Nikhil Gupta was charged with murder-for-hire as he allegedly agreed to pay $100,000 to an assassin to kill Pannun in New York. On June 30, 2023, Nikhil Gupta was arrested on a request from the US as he arrived in the Czech Republic. Nikhil Gupta's unnamed relative said Nikhil Gupta was held in solitary confinement and sought Supreme Court's intervention.
Gurpwatwant Singh Pannun, a designated terrorist in India, is the chief of the Sikhs for Justice. A pro-Khalistan lawyer, the Canadian-American citizen organised referendums seeking a separate Sikh state. Recently, Pannun threatened Air India and urged Sikhs not to take Air India flights.
