Nikhil Gupta, who pleaded guilty in the United States for his role in the foiled assassination plot against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, confessed to an undercover US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent that Hardeep Singh Nijjar “was also on the list” just a day after Nijjar’s killing in Canada.
Nijjar, a Canadian citizen and designated terrorist by the Indian government for pro-Khalistan activities, was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18, 2023.
According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filing on June 19, 2023, the day after Nijjar’s murder, Gupta told the undercover DEA agent that “Nijjar was also a target” and discussed “potential targets”.
The DOJ described Pannun as a critic of the Indian government. He leads the US-based Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a banned organisation advocating the secession of Punjab to create a sovereign Sikh state called Khalistan.
“The victim, Pannun, has publicly called for some or all of Punjab to secede from India and establish a Sikh sovereign state called Khalistan,” the DOJ statement read.
Law enforcement and the US prosecutors revealed that Gupta had earlier instructed the undercover agent to avoid killing Pannun during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US in June 2023.
Gupta approached an individual he believed was a criminal associate to arrange a contract killing in New York City.
The contact was in fact a confidential source working with the DEA, who introduced Gupta to a purported hitman, an undercover DEA officer.
Gupta, in coordination with another Indian national named Yadav, agreed to pay $100,000 for the assassination, delivering $15,000 in cash as an advance in June 2023.
Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic on June 30, 2023, and extradited to the United States, where he has since entered a guilty plea in the case.
Also read: Indian man pleads guilty in Pannun assassination plot
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