US objects passing defence material to Nikhil Gupta on Pannun assassination plot
Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
NEW YORK, 12th Jan. US officials on Thursday said that it will provide the requested defence material and other information to Nikhil Gupta only after he appears in the court.
Nikhil Gupta has been charged with the alleged plot to assassinate Khalistani extremist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York.
Gupta remains in the custody of Czech Republic authorities, only after he appears in the New York court.
US government has sought his extradition to America and the formalities for the same are said to be underway.
His lawyer had filed a ‘Motion to Compel Production of Discovery’ on January 4 in the US District Court, Southern District of New York.
Gupta sought the court’s direction to federal prosecutors to provide him “the defence materials relevant to its ability to defend the instant charges,: in his plea, according to the court papers.
US District Court had given the government three days’ time to respond to the motion.
US government said that his request should be denied during the pendency of his extradition proceedings in the Czech Republic.
US Federal Prosecutors had charged Gupta for the alleged assassination plot that was foiled by the US authorities.
Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan said in a statement that “The defendant (Gupta) conspired from India to assassinate, right here in New York City, a U.S. citizen of Indian origin who has publicly advocated for the establishment of a sovereign state for Sikhs”.
Gupta has been charged with murder-for-hire over the assassination plot and prosecutors said it was orchestrated from India.
US said that it has raised the issue with the Indian government at the highest level, following which New Delhi formed a panel to investigate the inputs shared by the Washington on the alleged plot.
