Indian national admits role in plot to assassinate US Sikh leader

Prosecutors say plot to kill Sikh leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun was linked to India government employee, an allegation New Delhi denies.Published On 14 Feb 2026An Indian national has admitted in a United States court that he took part in a 2023 scheme to hire a hitman to assassinate a prominent Sikh separatist leader living in New York, federal prosecutors said.Nikhil Gupta, 54, pleaded guilty on Friday over his alleged role in attempting to make contact with a hitman to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist who holds dual US and Canadian citizenship.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Fire at Havana oil refinery as Cuba’s fuel crisis deepenslist 2 of 4Arundhati Roy ‘shocked’ by jury’s Gaza remarks, quits Berlin film festivallist 3 of 4Trauma and defiance: Life and death of 17-year-old killed fighting Israellist 4 of 4Danish PM says more Greenland talks due after meeting US’s Marco Rubioend of listPannun is affiliated with a New York-based group called Sikhs for Justice that advocates for the secession of Punjab, a northern Indian state with a large Sikh population.In court, Gupta told Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn that while in India in 2023, he transferred $15,000 online to someone he believed would carry out the assassination.The individual that Gupta contacted was, in fact, a confidential source working with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).FBI Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky said Pannun “became a target of transnational repression solely for exercising their freedom of speech”.Gupta, who was detained at Prague airport in the Czech Republic in June 2023 and extradited to the US, pleaded guilty to “murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and conspiracy to commit money laundering”, the US attorney’s office for the southern district of New York said in a statement.Under federal sentencing guidelines, Gupta could face between 20 and 24 years in prison. A plea agreement calls for him to serve at least two decades.He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 29.