US Says Indian Official Behind Thwarted Assassination Plot Targeting US Citizen
Already the Indian government has been under intensifying international scrutiny in the wake of the June murder of Canadian Sikh separatist and activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Canada accused Indian intelligence of being behind the plot, sending relations between the two countries to a historical low point, as each side has also removed diplomats.
Now a similar episode is playing out on United States soil. Federal prosecutors allege that an Indian government official was behind a failed assassination plot of a US citizen which was to take place in New York City.
A 52-year-old Indian man identified as Nikhil Gupta was arrested and has now been charged in the murder-for-hire plot. The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said in a news release that Gupta was “recruited” by an Indian government employee to hire a hitman to kill a Sikh activist in New York City as part of a covert hit.
“The defendant conspired from India to assassinate, right here in New York City, a US citizen of Indian origin who has publicly advocated for the establishment of a sovereign state for Sikhs,” Manhattan federal prosecutor Damian Williams announced Wednesday.
US agents had apprehended Gupta—who was to receive $100,000 for arranging the hit—in the Czech Republic, but the Indian government official has not been directly named (extradition is in process). The US federal press release has underscored the Indian official’s likely intelligence ties, describing [emphasis ZH]:
GUPTA is an Indian national who resides in India, is an associate of CC-1, and has described his involvement in international narcotics and weapons trafficking in his communications with CC-1 and others. CC-1 is an Indian government agency employee who has variously described himself as a “Senior Field Officer” with responsibilities in “Security Management” and “Intelligence,” and who also has referenced previously serving in India’s Central Reserve Police Force and receiving “officer[] training” in “battle craft” and “weapons.” CC-1 directed the assassination plot from India.
The US government has called this a “dangerous plot” to “assassinate a US citizen on US soil” which originated overseas. The statement further detailed that “When a foreign government employee allegedly committed the brazen act of recruiting an international narcotics trafficker to murder a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil, DEA was there to stop the plot.”
