By The South Asia Times

NEW YORK - An Indian national has pleaded guilty to conspiring with an Indian government employee to assassinate a US-based Sikh leader on American soil, in a case that has exposed New Delhi's willingness to target its critics abroad, federal prosecutors announced Friday.

Nikhil Gupta, 54, entered the guilty plea before a magistrate judge in Manhattan, admitting to charges of murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with a plot to kill a US citizen of Indian origin who leads a Khalistan separatist organization in New York.

According to court documents and statements made during the proceeding, Gupta worked at the direction of Vikash Yadav -- an employee of India's Cabinet Secretariat, which houses the country's foreign intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing -- to orchestrate the assassination.

"The defendant worked at the direction and coordination of an Indian government employee to arrange the murder of a U.S.-based leader of a Sikh separatist movement," prosecutors said in the indictment.

The case has strained relations between Washington and New Delhi, with the Biden administration repeatedly raising concerns with Indian officials about the alleged extraterritorial operation. The plot bears striking similarities to the June 2023 murder of another Sikh  leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in British Columbia -- a killing the then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called a "potential link" to Indian agents, triggering a diplomatic crisis with India.

The victim, identified in court documents only as a US citizen and attorney, leads a New York-based organization advocating for Khalistan -- a proposed independent Sikh homeland in India's Punjab region. The Indian government has banned the organization and declared its leader a terrorist.

According to prosecutors, the plot unfolded in May 2023 when Yadav recruited Gupta to arrange the assassination. Gupta, who described himself as an international narcotics and weapons trafficker, reached out to an individual he believed was a criminal associate but who was in fact a confidential source working with the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The source introduced Gupta to a purported hitman -- actually an undercover DEA officer. Yadav subsequently agreed, through Gupta's brokerage, to pay $100,000 for the murder.

On June 9, 2023, Yadav and Gupta arranged for an associate to deliver $15,000 in cash to the undercover officer as an advance payment.

Yadav provided Gupta with detailed personal information about the victim, including his home address in New York City, phone numbers and specifics about his daily routine -- all of which Gupta passed to the purported hitman. Gupta provided Yadav with regular updates, including surveillance photographs of the target.

The conspirators specifically instructed the undercover officer not to carry out the murder around the time of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official state visit to the United States, which began June 20, 2023 -- a detail prosecutors highlighted as demonstrating the plotters' awareness of diplomatic sensitivities.

The timing of events proved critical. On June 18, two days before Modi's arrival in Washington, masked gunmen murdered Nijjar outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia.

The next day, Gupta told the undercover officer that Nijjar "was also the target" and that "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 in New York, according to court filings.

Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic on June 30, 2023, and extradited to the United States in June 2024 following lengthy extradition proceedings.

FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr. framed the case as a direct assault on American sovereignty.

"At the direction and coordination of an Indian government employee, Nikhil Gupta plotted to assassinate a United States citizen on American soil, facilitating a foreign adversary's unlawful effort to silence a vocal critic of the Indian government," Barnacle said. "The FBI will continue to aggressively defend the homeland against any foreign adversaries who target our citizens for exercising their constitutionally protected rights."

US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams, whose office prosecuted the case, called the plot "a shocking affront to our national sovereignty."

Gupta faces up to 10 years in prison on each of the two murder-for-hire counts and up to 20 years on the money laundering conspiracy charge. Sentencing before US District Judge Victor Marrero is scheduled for May 29, 2026.

Yadav, the alleged Indian intelligence officer, remains at large. The indictment against him remains pending, though India has not indicated any willingness to extradite its official to face charges in the United States.

The guilty plea comes at a delicate moment in US-India relations. Washington has cultivated New Delhi as a critical partner in countering China's influence in the Indo-Pacific, with defense and technology cooperation deepening significantly under successive US administrations.

But the assassination plot -- and the parallel Canadian allegations -- have tested that partnership. US officials have privately pressed India to hold accountable those responsible, while publicly attempting to compartmentalize the issue from broader strategic cooperation.

The victim, whose name remains under seal, leads the Sikhs for Justice organization, which has been banned in India. The group has aggressively pursued a UN-supervised referendum on Khalistan independence, drawing the ire of Indian authorities who view the movement as a terrorist threat.

For US law enforcement and counterintelligence officials, the case sends a clear message. "The United States will not tolerate foreign governments targeting our citizens for exercising their constitutionally protected rights," prosecutors wrote in the indictment.

As Gupta awaits sentencing, the broader political and diplomatic reckoning is only beginning. The guilty plea provides the most detailed public accounting yet of an alleged state-sponsored assassination plot on American soil -- one that US officials say was stopped only by the intervention of undercover agents.

Pakistan has long accused India of sponsoring terrorism in the region, alleging that New Delhi provides financial and logistical support to terrorist organizations such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) -- both of which are designated as terrorist groups by the United Nations and several other countries.

Recently, the BLA -- which Islamabad refers to as "Fitna-e-Hindustan", accusing it of being run by New Delhi to foment terrorism in Pakistan -- carried out coordinated attacks at 12 locations on a single day, killing 36 civilians and 22 security personnel. In response, during a six-day operation, Pakistani security forces killed 216 BLA terrorists.

The latest US indictment, Pakistani officials argue, proves Islamabad's long-standing claim that India is sponsoring terrorism across the region.