The Untold Story: How Alleged India Plots Targeting Sikh Separatists in the US and Canada Came to Light

In a photograph taken in a car in New York City, a U.S. law enforcement officer is seen receiving an advance cash payment of $15,000 by an associate of Nikhil Gupta. This incident occurred on June 9, 2023. The U.S. Department of Justice describes this payment as part of the plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist. Read more to acquire licensing rights to New York or New Delhi content.

A plan to assassinate a Sikh separatist in the U.S. was initiated in May and was discovered in text messages between an Indian security official and Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national involved in drugs and weapons trafficking, according to an indictment filed in Manhattan federal court. The official discussed dropping criminal charges against Gupta in India in exchange for the murder of a New York-based lawyer who leads a separatist group called Sikhs for Justice.

As the plan commenced, Gupta worked to organize the murder by reaching out to associates in the U.S. And tried to coordinate the hit while requesting a swift execution due to the presence of Indian officials visiting the U.S. following what seemed to be an unsuccessful murder-for-hire plot. An undercover DEA agent was involved, and Gupta is yet to be extradited to the U.S. Though three months later a Canadian Prime Minister said there were credible allegations that Indian government agents were linked to a murder of a Sikh separatist leader’s associate in Vancouver.

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