The US government today announced the filing of murder-for-hire charges against an Indian-origin narcotics smuggler, Nikhil Gupta, alias Nick (52), and an unnamed Indian Government official for an attempt to “assassinate a US citizen in New York City”.
According to the US government, an Indian Government official based in Delhi contacted Gupta, who in turn contacted an individual to carry out the killing. However, the alleged killer contacted by Gupta was in fact a confidential source working with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The source introduced Gupta to a purported hitman, who was a DEA undercover officer. The official agreed to carry out the killing for $100,000 and Gupta paid him an advance of $15,000 on June 9.
“We will not tolerate efforts to assassinate US citizens on US soil, and stand ready to investigate, thwart and prosecute anyone who seeks to harm and silence Americans here or abroad,” said US attorney Damian Williams.
Hours earlier, the MEA had revealed that New Delhi had set up a “high-level committee” on November 18 to formally investigate security concerns aired by the US.
MEA spokesman Arindam Bagchi said the US side shared some “inputs” pertaining to nexus between criminals, gun runners and terrorists, and relevant departments were examining the issue.
The Financial Times had on November 22 first reported the thwarted plot against Pannu in the US. On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that top US security officials, including CIA chief William Burns and NSA Jake Sullivan, had travelled to India in the past few months to press for a resolution of the issue. The DoJ also mentioned that on June 18, 2023, masked gunmen murdered Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. Gupta had told the undercover DEA agent that Nijjar “was also the target”.
