“Nikhil Gupta, also known as Nick, 53, an Indian national, was arrested and detained in the Czech Republic on June 30, 2023, and extradited pursuant to the bilateral extradition treaty between the United States and the Czech Republic. Gupta arrived in the US on June 14 and was presented on the charges today. According to court documents, last year, an Indian government employee (CC-1) worked together with Gupta and others in India and elsewhere to direct an assassination plot against an attorney and political activist, who is a US citizen of Indian origin, on US soil.”

“Gupta is an Indian national who resides in India, is an associate of CC-1, and has described his involvement in international narcotics and weapons trafficking in his communications with CC-1 and others. CC-1 is an Indian government agency employee who has variously described himself as a ‘senior field officer’ with responsibilities in ‘security management’ and ‘intelligence’ and has referenced previously serving in India’s Central Reserve Police Force and receiving ‘officer [] training’ in ‘battle craft’ and ‘weapons.’ CC-1 directed the assassination plot from India. In or about May 2023, CC-1 recruited Gupta to orchestrate the assassination of the victim in the US The victim is a vocal critic of the Indian government and leads a US-based organization that advocates for the secession of Punjab, a state in northern India that is home to a large population of Sikhs, an ethnoreligious minority group in India. The victim has publicly called for some or all of Punjab to secede from India and establish a Sikh sovereign state called Khalistan, and the Indian government has banned the victim and his separatist organization from India,” says a lengthy Justice Department press release about the Modi Regime’s failed effort to assassinate a New York-based Sikh community leader accused of involvement in a separatist movement for the Indian religious minority group.

It goes on, but the details on how this son of a bitch got caught are worth it:

“At CC-1’s direction, Gupta contacted an individual whom Gupta believed to be a criminal associate but was in fact a confidential source working with the DEA (the CS) for assistance in contracting a hitman to murder the victim in New York City. The CS introduced Gupta to a purported hitman, who was in fact a DEA undercover officer (the UC). CC-1 subsequently agreed, in dealings brokered by Gupta, to pay the UC $100,000 to murder the victim. On or about June 9, 2023, CC-1 and Gupta arranged for an associate to deliver $15,000 in cash to the UC as an advance payment for the murder. CC-1’s associate then delivered the $15,000 to the UC in Manhattan. In or about June 2023, in furtherance of the assassination plot, CC-1 provided Gupta with personal information about the victim, including the victim’s home address, phone numbers associated with the victim and details about the victim’s day-to-day conduct, which Gupta then passed to the UC. CC-1 directed Gupta to provide regular updates on the progress of the assassination plot, which Gupta accomplished by forwarding to CC-1, among other things, surveillance photographs of the victim. Gupta directed the UC to carry out the murder as soon as possible, but Gupta also specifically instructed the UC not to commit the murder around the time of anticipated engagements scheduled to occur in the ensuing weeks between high-level US and Indian government officials.”

“On or about June 18, 2023, masked gunmen murdered Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia, Canada. Nijjar was an associate of the victim, and like the victim, was a leader of the Sikh separatist movement and an outspoken critic of the Indian government. On or about June 19, 2023, the day after the Nijjar murder, Gupta told the UC that Nijjar ‘was also the target’ and ‘we have so many targets.’ Gupta added that, in light of Nijjar’s murder, there was ‘now no need to wait’ on killing the victim. On or about June 20, 2023, CC-1 sent Gupta a news article about the victim and messaged Gupta, ‘[i]t’s [a] priority now.’ Gupta is charged with murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each.”