Man Pleads Guilty to Orchestrating Failed Indian Government-Backed Plot to Kill Sikh Separatist Leader

An Indian man pleaded guilty Friday to U.S. criminal charges that he orchestrated a failed Indian government-backed plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader in New York City, marking the first conviction in what officials say is a broader campaign by India targeting dissidents abroad.

Nikhil Gupta, 54, admitted in Manhattan federal court that he conspired to hire a hitman to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a U.S. citizen and lawyer who advocates for an independent Sikh state in India’s Punjab region.

“Our message to nefarious foreign actors should be clear: steer clear of the United States and our people,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a release after Gupta pleaded guilty to three conspiracy charges, according to the Associated Press.

The Charges and Guilty Plea

Gupta 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, according to Reuters and other outlets.

He entered his plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn in Manhattan federal court. Sentencing is scheduled for May 29, 2026, before U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero.

Under federal guidelines, prosecutors recommended a prison sentence of about 21 to 24 years, according to The New York Times. A plea agreement called for him to serve at least two decades in prison, the Associated Press reported.

How the Plot Unfolded

Gupta told the court that he was in India when he paid $15,000 online in 2023 to someone he thought could carry out the killing of Pannun, according to the Associated Press. However, Gupta was unwittingly communicating with an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a hitman.

According to court documents, Gupta agreed to pay an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent, whom he believed to be a contract killer, $100,000 to murder Pannun, handing over a $15,000 advance in Manhattan in June 2023, according to multiple reports.

James C. Barnacle Jr., the head of New York’s FBI office, said Gupta coordinated with an Indian government employee who directed him to carry out the killing, “facilitating a foreign adversary’s unlawful effort to silence a vocal critic of the Indian government,” the Associated Press reported.

According to News9Live, U.S. prosecutors stated that Gupta worked in coordination with Vikash Yadav, described as an officer of India’s external intelligence agency, who has also been charged in the case. Yadav is currently in India.

Connection to Canadian Killing

According to court papers, Gupta suggested to the undercover DEA officer that the June 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia, Canada, was the work of the same individuals planning the assassination of Pannun, the Associated Press reported.

Gupta told the officer that Nijjar “was also the target” and “we have so many targets” as he instructed the officer to proceed with Pannun’s killing now that Nijjar was dead, according to the Associated Press.

The Arrest and Extradition

Gupta has been held without bail since he was extradited to the United States in June 2024 from the Czech Republic, where he was arrested in Prague in June 2023, according to multiple outlets.

New Delhi has long expressed concerns over the resurgence of the Khalistan movement outside India, a movement advocating for an independent Sikh state separate from India.

He had pleaded not guilty immediately after his extradition, according to Reuters and Global News.

The guilty plea occurred in a courtroom packed with about two dozen Sikhs from across the United States and Canada who share Pannun’s desire to win independence for Punjab, a state in northwest India, which they hope to someday rename the Democratic Republic of Khalistan, the Associated Press reported.

The men briefly chanted a victory slogan in the courtroom after the proceeding ended and then held a prayer service outside the courthouse, waving yellow flags that had “Khalistan” in blue ink printed across them, according to the Associated Press. American flags were carried as well.

Who is Gurpatwant Singh Pannun?

Pannun, who is an American citizen and holds dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship, is a lawyer at a New York-based group called Sikhs for Justice and is a proponent of independence for Punjab in northern India, according to multiple reports.

He advocates for the creation of a sovereign Sikh state and is considered a terrorist by the Indian government, the Associated Press reported.

In a phone interview after the guilty plea, Pannun said he planned to continue his activism “even if I have to face a bullet,” according to the Associated Press.

“I’m not a terrorist,” he said, describing himself as a Sikh who as a human rights lawyer is campaigning to turn Punjab into a place where “all religions will have equal rights,” the Associated Press reported.

He urged the U.S. to go after officials in India who directed Gupta.

Pannun described Gupta as “just a foot soldier.”

“The Indian government cannot shield itself behind this operational foot soldier because the command, the direction and the funds are authorized by the Indian government,” he said, according to WTOP News. “I am ready to take India’s bullet rather than take a step back and live like a slave. Working toward the independence of the Sikh state of Khalistan is my life’s mission, until either I am killed or Punjab becomes an independent country.”

India’s Response

India’s government has rejected the accusations that it was involved in the plot, saying it was against government policy, according to Reuters.

New Delhi has publicly stated that such actions contradict its official stance and pledged to conduct a thorough investigation into the security concerns raised by Washington, according to Business Standard.

In January 2025, Gupta gave an exclusive interview to ThePrint from a U.S. prison in which he denied the allegations and claimed he was being pressured to plead guilty.

“Never. I will never turn approver. All I need is a good lawyer to turn this around,” Gupta told ThePrint at the time, saying he was being “forced to turn approver” and “pressured to plead guilty.”

He said he struggled every day in prison and on one occasion was confined for more than 20 days in a “cage” in the U.S. prison.

“No one has ever approached me regarding Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. Why would anyone approach me? I’m just a small businessman,” Gupta told ThePrint in January 2025.

He said at the time that the case against him was made with an intention to “defame India.”

“I believe this was a political agenda aimed at interfering with Indian elections and defaming India,” he told ThePrint. “This isn’t about me, Nikhil Gupta. It’s about India. And India will not bow down before them.”

Diplomatic Implications

The discovery of alleged assassination plots against Sikh separatists in the United States and Canada has tested relations with India, which has denied involvement in such plots, according to Reuters.

The case has drawn international attention because Pannun is designated as a terrorist by India but holds dual U.S. and Canadian citizenship. The alleged plot had earlier strained diplomatic ties between India, the United States and Canada.

For Washington, this case comes after years of cultivating India as a strategic partner in the Indo-Pacific, including deepening intelligence and defense cooperation, according to an analysis published on Substack by KBS Sidhu.

New Delhi has long expressed concerns over the resurgence of the Khalistan movement outside India, a movement advocating for an independent Sikh state separate from India, according to Business Standard.

The Khalistan movement seeks to create a sovereign Sikh state carved out of Punjab, a state in northern India home to a large Sikh population, according to Courthouse News Service.

India designates several Sikh separatist leaders abroad as terrorists and accuses them of fronting secessionist campaigns and committing or abetting serious criminal offenses on Indian soil, according to the Substack analysis.

Significance of the Guilty Plea

The guilty plea avoids what would have been a closely watched trial in Manhattan federal court involving allegations of foreign-directed assassination efforts on U.S. soil, according to Social News XYZ.

According to The New York Times, this is the first conviction tied to what officials in Canada and the United States say is a campaign by the Indian government to murder dissidents.

The case began when U.S. authorities said they had disrupted an international plot to assassinate Pannun in New York in 2023, according to the Substack analysis. Investigators stated that the plot was disrupted before any attack on Pannun occurred.

This story was aggregated by AI from several news reports and edited by American Kahani’s News Desk.