US says it foiled alleged plot to kill Sikh activist – BBC News

The US has said it foiled an alleged plot to assassinate an American citizen in New York who advocated for a Sikh separatist state.

Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national, is accused of trying to hire a hitman for $100,000 (£79,000) in cash.

But the hitman was actually an undercover federal agent, prosecutors said.

Mr Gupta, 52, was charged over the plot on Wednesday. He is in jail in the Czech Republic pending extradition.

He was allegedly directed by an Indian government official who was not named or charged in the indictment.

The White House said it had raised the alleged assassination plot with India at the most senior levels, and officials there responded with “surprise and concern”.

India’s government, meanwhile, said it was investigating.

While the target was not named by prosecutors, US media reported it was Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual US-Canadian citizen who is a member of a US-based Sikh activist group.

Sikhs are a religious minority that make up about 2% of India’s population. Some groups have long called for a separate homeland for Sikhs.

In the court documents unsealed on Wednesday, prosecutors said Mr Gupta was recruited by an Indian government employee in May. They said the pair met in Delhi to discuss the potential assassination.

“We will hit all our targets,” Mr Gupta allegedly wrote in a text message to the official.

The indictment alleges Mr Gupta suggested posing as a client for the target so he could “lure [him] to a place where he could be more easily executed”.

It says he intended to meet a hitman in New York City. Instead, he was introduced to an undercover law enforcement officer who said he would carry out the killing for $100,000.

Mr Gupta paid $15,000 upfront via an associate on 9 June, prosecutors said, and the indictment includes an apparent photograph of this payment.

He was arrested later that month in the Czech Republic where he is awaiting extradition to the US.

The target was also an associate of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the leader in the Sikh independence movement who was murdered by masked gunman in Canada in June.

Shortly after Mr Nijjar’s murder, Mr Gupta allegedly received a video clip from the Indian official that showed Mr Nijjar’s “bloody body slumped in his vehicle”.

The indictment says the Indian official then sent the target’s address to Mr Gupta.

Mr Gupta is charged with murder-for-hire and conspiracy. The two charges in New York each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.