An Indian man charged with orchestrating an unsuccessful alleged Indian government-backed plot to kill a Sikh separatist in New York City pleaded guilty to three criminal charges, a spokesperson for the US attorney's office in Manhattan said.
Nikhil Gupta, 54, on Friday pleaded guilty to murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carry a maximum combined sentence of 40 years in prison, the spokesperson said.
Gupta entered his plea before US Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn in Manhattan federal court.
Lawyers for Gupta were not immediately available for comment.
Gupta has been jailed in Brooklyn since his June 2024 extradition to the United States from the Czech Republic, where he had been arrested a year earlier.
He had pleaded not guilty immediately after his extradition.
US prosecutors accused Gupta of plotting with an Indian government official to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US resident and dual US-Canadian citizen who advocated for a sovereign Sikh state in northern India’s Punjab.
India's government has dissociated itself from any plot against Pannun, saying it was against government policy.
The discovery of alleged assassination plots against Sikh separatists in the United States and Canada has tested relations with India, which has also denied involvement in such plots.
New Delhi has long been unhappy over Sikh separatist activity in Canada and the US.
Last year, Pakistan's top diplomat, in a news conference, claimed that his country has "credible evidence" of the Indian government's involvement in killings in the country.
The Washington Post reported last year that an officer in India's intelligence service was directly involved in a foiled plan and that Vikram Yadav, an officer of India's infamous Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), had orchestrated the failed assassination plot of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun by enlisting a "hit team" to carry out the operation.
British news outlet The Guardian also claimed in an investigation that agents of New Delhi's RAW had been involved in up to 20 extrajudicial killings of individuals in Pakistan since 2020.
