NEW DELHI: The arrival of US NSA Jake Sullivan in India for a review of the initiative on critical and emerging technology (iCET) coincided with an announced by the Czech government that Indian national Nikhil Gupta, who has been indicted by American authorities for his involvement in the Gurpatwant Pannun foiled murder plot, was handed over to the US on Friday last week.
With Sullivan in India, and Gupta extradited, the Biden administration also came under renewed pressure to seek accountability from India on Monday. A group of Democrat Senators led by Jeff Merkley, who is also a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling for a strong diplomatic response, following the “credible allegations’’ about the involvement of an Indian official in the plot.
They asked the US government to match words with action to hold the Indian officials involved accountable, and to send a “clear message’’ that there will be consequences for such behaviour. “It is imperative that we take an unequivocal stand against such a threat to the rights of a US citizen and violation of US sovereignty, which are examples of India’s increasingly irresponsible efforts to silence critics of its government among its diaspora around the word,’’ said the senators in their official communication.
Gupta, who allegedly hired a hitman to eliminate the Khalistan separatist and US-Canadian national at the instance of an Indian government official, was scheduled to be produced in a Manhattan federal court on Monday. The announcement of his extradition to the US, which has an extradition treaty with the Czech Republic, was made by the Czech justice minister Pavel Blazek. Czech authorities arrested and detained Gupta on June 30, 2023.
The minister said he approved the extradition on June 3. Sullivan has been pursuing the case with India, saying on several occasions that the US takes it very seriously and has been pressing India to act against the Indian official who allegedly masterminded the plot. He said last week that the US will continue to raise the issue with India at very high levels.
Sullivan was widely expected to raise the same issue in his meetings on Monday, but both sides were tight-lipped about whether he actually did that. This was the first time he met his counterpart Ajit Doval since the US Justice Department announced charges against Gupta.
Gupta is charged with murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire. Each count carries a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison. According to the indictment, the Indian government employee, working together with others, including Gupta, in India and elsewhere, directed a plot to assassinate Pannun. The issue was raised by President Biden himself in his meeting with PM Modi on the margins of the G20 summit last year in Delhi.
Gupta allegedly contacted an individual whom he believed to be a criminal associate, but who was in fact a confidential source working with US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), for assistance in contracting a hitman to murder Pannun.
With Sullivan in India, and Gupta extradited, the Biden administration also came under renewed pressure to seek accountability from India on Monday. A group of Democrat Senators led by Jeff Merkley, who is also a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling for a strong diplomatic response, following the “credible allegations’’ about the involvement of an Indian official in the plot.
They asked the US government to match words with action to hold the Indian officials involved accountable, and to send a “clear message’’ that there will be consequences for such behaviour. “It is imperative that we take an unequivocal stand against such a threat to the rights of a US citizen and violation of US sovereignty, which are examples of India’s increasingly irresponsible efforts to silence critics of its government among its diaspora around the word,’’ said the senators in their official communication.
Gupta, who allegedly hired a hitman to eliminate the Khalistan separatist and US-Canadian national at the instance of an Indian government official, was scheduled to be produced in a Manhattan federal court on Monday. The announcement of his extradition to the US, which has an extradition treaty with the Czech Republic, was made by the Czech justice minister Pavel Blazek. Czech authorities arrested and detained Gupta on June 30, 2023.
The minister said he approved the extradition on June 3. Sullivan has been pursuing the case with India, saying on several occasions that the US takes it very seriously and has been pressing India to act against the Indian official who allegedly masterminded the plot. He said last week that the US will continue to raise the issue with India at very high levels.
Sullivan was widely expected to raise the same issue in his meetings on Monday, but both sides were tight-lipped about whether he actually did that. This was the first time he met his counterpart Ajit Doval since the US Justice Department announced charges against Gupta.
Gupta is charged with murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire. Each count carries a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison. According to the indictment, the Indian government employee, working together with others, including Gupta, in India and elsewhere, directed a plot to assassinate Pannun. The issue was raised by President Biden himself in his meeting with PM Modi on the margins of the G20 summit last year in Delhi.
Gupta allegedly contacted an individual whom he believed to be a criminal associate, but who was in fact a confidential source working with US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), for assistance in contracting a hitman to murder Pannun.