Indian national likely to plead guilty to failed murder plot against Pannun

Nikhil Gupta is accused of plotting to assassinate an American citizen. Prosecutors have argued it mirrors similar efforts against Sikhs, including the killing of one in Canada

By Benjamin Weiser and Colin Moynihan

 

An Indian man charged in 2023 with orchestrating a failed assassination plot against a Sikh separatist in New York is expected to plead guilty on Friday morning in federal court in Manhattan.

 

Prosecutors had said that the man, Nikhil Gupta, had been hired to carry out the plot by an official inside the Indian government. The government has rejected the accusations.

 

The target of the plot, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a lawyer at a New York-based group called Sikhs for Justice, is an American citizen and a proponent of independence for the northern Indian state of Punjab.

 

 

Mr. Gupta, a resident of India who was extradited to the United States in 2024 to face trial, faced charges of murder for hire and two conspiracy counts. It was not immediately clear what charge he would plead guilty to.

 

No formal announcement of the plea was made, but the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York sent out an advisory on Friday morning saying a hearing was scheduled for Mr. Gupta, using language that typically indicates a plea is expected to occur.